Shards of Past
by Pulser-Aynasa
Summary: A slightly annoyed Saint Beast returns, but the gang soon has bigger problems. Someone else has entered the game, and he wants the world...Now Finished
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
The day was still young when Sarayashiki Junior High's bells rang and the classes were finally dismissed. Laughing youths flooded out the door like some kind of tsunami on the ground. The blue uniforms further created the illusion, as the males jostled one enough out the door to gather in small clumps in the main courtyard. Some of them ran off immediately, anxious to be home, but most lingered in the courtyard. Some remained to talk, some waited for rides, and some tried to impress the chosen female of the week. The young girls and energetic boys hardly took note of the solitary figure standing alone near the gate. The heavy gray shawl wrapped securely around his shoulders, he merely watch the flood of young adults slowly taper off as all the students were finally released. A long hood cast shadows over his face, but strands of yellow hair caught the sun when he shifted.  
A single student caught the figure's attention. Alone among its blue brethren, a single green jumpsuit strolled leisurely through the door and stretched widely in the sunshine. The young man wearing it yawned hugely, and steadfastly ignored the companion beside him, who was talking energetically, waving his hands in the air as he made a point. The green jumpsuit went well with the black hair, as it had so long ago, when that youth standing at the entrance to his middle school had thwarted one of the greatest plans in the history of humanity..  
"Yusuke Urameshi.." The figure whispered to himself, his voice soft, and pleasant to the ear, "At long last I've found you.."  
Yusuke drifted slowly onto the street, and the figure followed. 


	2. Chapter 1: Ghosts of the Former Days

Chapter 1: Ghosts of the Former Days  
  
The tea was surprisingly sweet.  
It wasn't the fact that the tea was sweet that surprised Hiei. After all, it was Kurama's turn to make the drinks, and he could always be counted on to add a dash of honey or some other sweetener to the steaming tea. Likewise, Yusuke's drinks were always slightly bland, and Kuwabara's attempts were so widely varied that it was impossible to tell whether it would be tasteful, or indeed even drinkable. Hiei, of course, had categorically refused to make anybody else drinks.  
For a long moment he stood, teacup steaming in his hands, and stared at an amusingly decorated roster Kurama had hung on the wall to keep track of whose turn it was to fix the drinks. The word 'Hiei' was written in neat letters in the Thursday box all the way down the list. Hiei recalled making the drinks, overly bitter, on that day last week, and the week before, and every week for the last three months.  
Remaining in the human world had been a good idea six months ago, with the climactic end of the Dark Tournament. With Hiei's energies depleted, half of Kurama's blood spilled onto the arena floor, and Yusuke looking like he'd picked a fight with a Dark Dragon, it was only prudent for the group to remain near one another until they were self-sufficient once again.  
Though still hesitant to repeat his battle with his own Darkness techniques, Hiei could easily have left for Spirit World months ago. But instead, both he and Kurama had stayed. They rented an apartment nearby to avoid having the trip over humans who could not easily have dealt with their demonic identities, and had met with Yusuke and Kuwabara many times over the last months since the Dark Tournament. They had even seen a Movie last week, a pathetic enactment of human martial arts, and Hiei had enjoyed it immensely.  
Hiei's hands squeezed reflexively, and the teacup was not a challenge for his strength. A sharp crack and the scalding liquid spilled out onto the carpet. A flash of pain caused him to instinctively drop the cup fragments, where they rang against each other as they landed on the sodden floor. A tiny red line bled slightly in the palm of his hand, where a sharp fragment had pressed into his hand.  
Hiei stood disbelieving, a tiny cut from a piece of china had surprised him enough to make him drop the pieces. By all rights, he shouldn't even have noticed something so insignificant. It simply could not be.  
"Hiei?" A voice called softly from the door to the kitchen, and Kurama was abruptly framed in the opening, "Is something wrong? I heard-" The demon paused, his eyes taking in the broken teacup and the spill on the carpet.  
"I'm going out!" Hiei announced shortly, grapping his long cloak off the coat peg and throwing it around himself. Wisely, Kurama said nothing as the black-haired demon swept past him. Hiei brushed through the door and down the hall, numbered apartments marked on doors to either side of him. For a moment, he hesitated between the elevator and the stairs, and then pushed into the seldom-used staircase.  
They will NOT make a human out of me. He swore to himself, jumping the first railing and falling through the gaps in the stairs to the bottom floor. The door on the bottom floor nearly cracked the wall with the force that he was punched it open with, and the clerk was suddenly very alert behind the desk. Hiei could care less. Saying nothing, he crossed the lobby at a half run and went through the glass doors into the mid morning chaos of the streets. He breathed deep the outdoor air, as if trying to restore to himself the strength that he had lost. As he started down the street, he bumped into a cloaked figure, nearly knocking the other off balance.  
"Sorry." He muttered tersely, the cursed himself for apologizing. What should he care for some random human's comfort? Grumbling to himself, he stalked down the street and became lost in the crowd.  
  
The cloaked figure stared after the departing black cloak, and breathed a sigh of relief. Had Hiei been more alert, he would have felt the fact that the spirit energy in the 'human' he had bumped into was far greater then it ought to have been. It would not have taken Kurama long to sense a street battle outside, and facing both demons at once was not a part of his plan.  
Gingerly, he opened the glass double doors that Hiei had come barreling out of. He nodded to the clerk as if he had every right he be present, but it hardly made a difference. Seeing one of their long time customers flee the building as if a bomb had been set off had his full attention. The elevator was already at the bottom floor, and the doors opened as soon as he pressed the button. Hitting the large number '7' on the control panel, he waited as the metal box rose to the matching floor. Stepping from it, he strode down the hall, watching the numbers on the rooms slowly rise. In front of room 613 he stopped at the slightly ajar door, and his heart began to pound in his chest. For a moment he doubted his readiness for this action, but resolve come once again to him.  
Steeling himself for anything, he pushed the door open.  
  
Kurama was kneeling near the broken china, collecting the pieces of the cup before soaking up the now cold tea with a towel. He was hesitant to throw the bits of teacup away, as they had been his mother's once, but he knew that the little fragments would be no use to anyone. Perhaps he could enjoin upon Hiei to try his hand at melding the cup back into one piece. If the work were precise enough, it would be as if it had never broken.  
The door opened behind him, and he knew the fire apparition was back. He studied the largest fragment in his hands, and the half of a phoenix on it looked back at him. He used it as Hiei's cup because the short fighter seemed to have an affinity for the image.  
"Needed a walk?" Kurama asked over his shoulder, as he mopped up the remaining drink. With a suddenness that startled him, arms were entangling his, dragging his limbs backward into a restraining hold.  
That's not Hiei! Kurama's mind screamed at him. He felt the strange makeup of this attacker's spirit energy, and it nearly seemed familiar. He struggled against the arms as the held his hands to his back, and a strange tingle ran through his body, as though his entire being had fallen asleep. He tried to send his energy into the rose in his sleeve, or the seeds in pocket, but found that he couldn't extend his energy past that tingling feeling.  
I'm trapped! He said to himself, recognizing the feeling. In the Dark Tournament, Gama had also sealed his power within himself, using a mix of makeup and blood. In a desperate effort, as the attacker's weight bore him down onto the floor, he raised his head sharply in an effort to head butt his enemy and maybe loosen the hold. The strike missed, but caught the figure's cloak, tearing it away from the face. Kurama saw his own reflection in the fragment of china, and the image of his attackers. For a moment nothing was real, and then a soft voice whispered into his ear.  
"A now, Kurama." Suzaku whispered to the captive demon, "You will tell me where I can find Yusuke Urameshi." 


	3. Chapter 2: An Unexpected Proposal

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Proposal  
  
"So you don't know where they are." Yusuke summarized. He and Kuwabara were still standing at the front door where Botan had interrupted their late dinner. The front of Yusuke's green jumpsuit was still stained with the gravy spilled at Botan's frantic pounding. Kuwabara's uniform was still clean, and he had been the one pouring the gravy at the time.  
"I don't see what the big deal is. They go off all the time without telling us, I think they like confusing us." Kuwabara put in, rubbing the back of his head where Yusuke and hit him after the above gravy incident.  
"You don't understand." Botan insisted loudly, "Maybe they disappear without any of YOU knowing where they are, but they're both an parole, and we in Spirit World can ALWAYS find wherever they might go."  
"Except this time, I imagine." Yusuke muttered, brushing at the stubborn gray stain with a napkin. "So they want a few moments without Koenma spying on them, why tell us?"  
"Because I want you to look for them!" Botan flared dramatically, her blue hair practically standing on edge, "Aren't you two worried about them?"  
"About what?" Yusuke countered, running his fingers through his fine black hair, "They can take care of themselves."  
"Yeah, especially if Hiei unleashes the Dark Dragon thingy." Kuwabara agreed, "Togoru's dead, name someone else who could take them both on."  
"And if Hiei unleashes the Dragon in the middle of downtown?" Botan asked. For a moment none of them moved or spoke, then Yusuke turned and shouted backward into the house.  
"Hey Mom! I'm going out!"  
"No you're not!" A woman's voice answered him, "I sat down and made dinner for you and your friend, and you're not just going to walk-"  
Yusuke shut the door, effectively cutting off the tirade.  
"Alright, Botan." He said, "We'll start looking. Tell Koenma to tell us if there's any word."  
  
"This is so stupid!" Yusuke shouted at the sky, kicking a can down Main Street, "We have no idea where they are and here I am wandering through back streets and side alleys, dealing with every fight from a punk kid you've insulted over the last year."  
"Hey, that last one wasn't my fault!" Kuwabara disagreed, rubbing his aching jaw, "Just because he claimed I beat him up, doesn't mean it's true."  
"You're right. I should learn to be suspicious when they say you've won a fight."  
"What's that meant to mean!?" Kuwabara shouted, waving wildly with his arms as they strolled down yet another darkened alleyway, "Hey, I lived through the Dark Tournament, same as you!"  
"Lived doesn't mean you covered yourself in glory." Yusuke muttered, kicking his the empty beer can again, and watching it clatter down a drain, "You won, what, two of your six fights? Both by ring-out?"  
"You try fighting an immortal next time!"  
"Excuses Excuses!"  
"Hey!"  
"If I could interrupt for a moment?" A soft voice asked them, and they both jumped. Executing an impressive display of midair acrobatics that neither youth would be able to repeat of their own will, the two school uniformed students landed facing the newcomer. For a moment, both were silent, taking in the unreal orange hair of their interrupter. Yusuke found his voice first, as he always did.  
"You!" He managed, "But you're-"  
"Dead, I know." Suzaku managed, smiling very faintly. It was not a very honest smile, but rather a smile one would give a dog with rabies to assure it you meant no harm. While you might mean no harm to the dog, the dog could certainly mean serious harm to you.  
"Oh man!" Kuwabara groaned, "Why is it that every time we kill someone they come back to haunt us?"  
"I don't think you two should be the ones talking about that." Suzaku countered softly, "You've both faced the reaper and returned, haven't you?"  
"What do you want?" Yusuke demanded, steeling himself for the inevitable fight. "I assume you didn't come here to chat about the weather."  
"I did not." Suzaku agreed gently, "But you've no reason to fear me. I come only to take you to my Master. He awaits you."  
"Your master?" Kuwabara blinked incredulously, "Who the hell is that?"  
"Suzaku." The orange-haired one answered simply, turning on his heels and strolling down the street. Hurrying to catch up, Yusuke drew abreast of him first.  
"You?" He shouted, "Then why the hell are we walking?"  
"Not me, Suzaku." The demon clarified.  
"You are Suzaku!"  
"I am A Suzaku."  
"What?"  
"Don't you remember Yusuke?" Suzaku asked, turning to him, "You're the only one that has lived through seeing the Technique. I would hope it would leave more of an impression."  
That refreshed Yusuke's memory, Suzaku's infamous Prism of Seven technique. Using it, the demon had split himself into seven identical copies, each with their own spirit energy and free will. It had been a grueling task to destroy all seven, one that had required him to dump his life energy into one all out attack. But it seemed that even that had not been enough, he could have SWORN Suzaku had died that day.  
So distracted was he that he hardly noticed when the alley opened into a small clearing, hidden behind houses on all four sides, as if the builders had overlooked the land and left the empty lot, buried among the other buildings nearby. The lot was wall-to-wall empty asphalt. Reclining against the opposite wall, one hand brushing at a slight cut on the cheek, Kurama tried unsuccessful to look a little less bedraggled. And standing in the precise center of the empty asphalt, Suzaku was standing. Yusuke knew immediately that this was the original one, the spirit energy radiating from it was much more evident then the duplicate's.  
"Yusuke Urameshi." Suzaku started, "I-"  
Yusuke and Kuwabara suddenly found themselves flung to the ground, landing heavily and even bouncing once or twice until their bodies were stopped against opposite walls of the alley. A black blur swept past them, pausing only long enough to send the duplicate Suzaku skidding into another wall hard enough to bring half of it down on top of it. With a mighty leap, the blur resolved itself into a familiar figure, Hiei, wielding a well-worn katana over his head as gravity drew him down toward the orange-haired demon.  
"Die at the hands of your betters, Saint B---Urk!" Hiei started, but a green blur from the left sent him reeling off sideways, barely landing on his feet, his hand clutching at the strip of broken clothes across his chest, the red barely beginning to show through. On the other end of that rose whip, Kurama was shouting at him,  
"No you must listen to what he has to say!"  
Yusuke looked up, and found the cold eyes of Suzaku looking back at him. In a voice as soft as a babies whisper, Suzaku said,  
"Yusuke Urameshi..I wish to join you." 


	4. Author's Note 1

From the Mouth of Madness  
  
Konichiwa, all! Let me first give deep thanks to all those that have sent me reviews and emails. I greatly appreciate them all, look forward to more ideas and comments, and am deeply gratified that my little work is attracting a following so quickly. Let me extend a special thanks to user 'Saria19', whose unbridled enthusiasm changed this fanfic from a 'update whenever I have the time' to a 'Chapter every two days or so." Project. My thanks, I appreciate your continuing comments, and hope that I will create a world you become fond of.  
  
Secondly, as this is my first Author's note: I'll tell you what to expect. First, I'll prattle on about whatever subject crosses my mind for the day, and usually give thanks to you people who read this and comment. Secondly, I'll answer some questions that people seem to have about the fic, and thirdly, I'll get pompous and write a short hint on writing fanfic people wish to read. If you love your own style, by all means, don't read my techniques ;), you're probably better then I am. As some people have asked, I just turned 18, and will be finishing High school in the Spring.  
-Daniel  
  
Questions  
  
What did Hiei mean by 'I will not become human'?  
  
The Hiei in my story has been living in the human world since the end of the Dark Tournament. As the first chapter opens, our fearless demon friend is beginning to realize just how much he has been domesticated. How much he's acting like a human person. Needless to say, this is not sitting well.  
  
Suzaku! Why Suzaku?  
  
Well, mostly because Suzaku has always been one of my favorite characters, and I can see a wealth of character not fully explored within the confines of the show. Needless to say, if you're familiar with the preceding chapters, this Suzaku has a very different approach then the one from the show, but, perhaps, the same agenda.  
  
I like your story so far, but will it get romantic? I hate it when that happens!  
  
Likely, yes it will, I'm sorry to say. My story will have a plot, and one that advances. But several of the side chapters will explore varying relationships between the characters of the show. Love is a powerful motivator for human and demon alike. Some of the pairing may well be Yaoi, or non-conventional in other ways. However, each chapter with graphic descriptions will be clearly marked with a warning and will not contain information vital to the plot. If such isn't your style, I'll make it easy to largely skip over it.  
  
Technique of the Week: Names  
  
Many fanfics are difficult to read, not because of plot shortcomings, but weak dialogue. So my first few techniques will deal with that. The first hint is to avoid continually stating a characters name whenever he says something. Two ways to do this are:  
  
Replacement. Trying replacing the characters name with a description of the character once in a while. This both reinforces the character traits, as well as relieves some of the repetition. (Example: The black-haired demon instead of Hiei, or the hard-eyed youth instead of Yusuke.)  
  
If only two characters are speaking, rather then write their names every sentence, you can skip a few down the way. Your readers can figure it out, trust me.  
  
Example: Person A stated Blah blah blah  
  
Person B countered Blah Blah Blah, insult  
  
Person A said "Blah blah, retort"  
  
"Blah blah blah!"  
  
"Blah!"  
  
"Blah Blah!"  
  
"Stop arguing." Said Person C.  
  
This helps keep the flow going. I just got Matrix reloaded, so I'm going to run. Keep writing, and I'll have a new chapter up for you tomorrow. 


	5. Chapter 3: Cards on the Table

Chapter 3: Cards on the Table  
  
The sun was fading over the ridge when the black phone rang.  
  
This, in and of itself, was not unusual. In fact, it would have been far more unusual for a moment to pass in which someone was NOT picking up a ringing phone. Each senior member of that building had at least two secretaries, some had as many as four, and those women worked their fingers to the bone to keep up with the pace. Nor was the office in which it was ringing known for being a silent one, if quieter then most. Senior Director Bank's secretaries prided themselves on screening out a large majority of the calls made to the office. The phone on the desk seldom rang more then three times in an hour.  
  
It was not the phone on the desk.  
  
For a long moment, Director Avery Banks just stared at the phone, feeling his aging heart pounding within his chest. He was no longer a young man, though he was far from decrepit, but he felt thirty years younger when that phone rang. Only a handful of people had access to that number, and only one person would be calling, with only a single message. With a speed he wasn't aware he had, he pushed his swivel chair back, stepped around the desk, and picked up the receiver. The line was dead, but that was how it was supposed to be. Reaching out with his left hand, Banks switched on the printer nearest to that phone. Hanging up the phone, he waited intensely for, what he hoped, was the last piece to his puzzle.  
  
Within a few minutes, the printer buzzed and hummed as it received a fax. The machine was top of the line, and slide a dozen page of printed material onto the tray before Banks was sure that it was printing. For a moment the pages continued to slide onto the neat stack, one after the other, until the flow abruptly stopped. Snatching the report off the top of the stack, and turning the fax off with his other hand, the Senior Director read the hastily scrawled writing atop the report aloud.  
  
"Yusuke Urameshi." He whispered, "Subject confirmed." As he started back to his desk, Banks couldn't help but grin.  
  
There was so much to be done. ***  
  
"What the hell did you just say?" Yusuke demanded, uncertain of himself. He would have expected to be attacked, possibly mutilated, and he wouldn't even have put rape past the former Saint Beast. However, the concept of Suzaku asking HIM, the one who defeated him, for a slot on the team was well beyond any of his suspicions.  
  
"I said I wish to join you." Suzaku stated again, clearly enunciating each syllable as if speaking to a three-year-old, "Sign up, enlist, join, be recruited, jump onboard, aid, be hired, or serve, whichever definition suits you best."  
  
"But, why?" Was all Yusuke could explain, and for a long moment Suzaku's unbreakable poise crumbled slightly. The Demon actually looked troubled, and this set Yusuke on edge.  
  
"You were there, Urameshi, you saw what happened. I had every possible advantage in that situation, and a lifetime of training and preparing for the conquest of your entire human world. I had studied your race, and I knew that none of you could have stood against me. I had studied all the files on Kurama and Hiei I could, while they climbed my castle. I allowed Genbu to be executed; I was a little surprised when the other one managed to weaken Byakko, and I was certainly not expecting Hiei to so neatly destroy Seiryu." The powerful demon studied the crumbling wall for a long moment, "But, most of all, I did not expect you."  
  
"He has that effect on people." Kurama put in, coming around to Hiei and attempting to get the other apparition to allow him to tend to the wound across the chest created by the Rose Whip. Hiei was not enthusiastic about that however, and was evading Kurama's ministration with quick, nimble steps and a very hostile glare that set the red-haired demon back a bit.  
  
"You haven't answered my question." Yusuke pressed hotly, regaining some semblance of his usual fire.  
  
"Because I didn't win." Suzaku half snarled, "I had everything going for me, and I didn't kill you, I couldn't, I wasn't able to kill one single human. Instead, you killed me, or very nearly so." The Saint Beast was pacing the floor now, waving his arms with agitation. "Ten months! Practically stripped of my powers as I subsisted on whatever I could, nursing the wounds you gave me. I was so weakened that I could not even absorb the power of my duplicates in order to regain my strength. All that energy, almost close enough to touch, but just out of reach."  
  
"Answer my question." Yusuke demanded one more time. Suzaku took a deep breath, and turned to face him.  
  
"You have something I don't, Yusuke." He said, his voice very soft and low, "Everyone around you does. Somehow, you put your meager powers against mine, and you won. Somehow, you've attained the friendship of hardened criminals, and even your enemies would stand with you if given a choice. Whatever it was, it gave you power beyond my wildest imaginations, and you defeated me."  
  
"What you desire will not be easy to attain." Kurama mentioned, giving up his quest reluctantly at the implied threat of Hiei's sword. Something was still wrong with the short Yokai, and Kurama need to find out what it was, "It would be long to attain, and if you did, it would not be used in the fashion you desire. It would forever change you Suzaku, and you would not be able to return to what you once were."  
  
As Kurama spoke, Hiei's eyes were following him. When he reached the bit about 'not being able to return.' The fearless demon went completely white. After a moment, he pulled his torn outfit around himself again, and jumped, disappearing over the rooftops. Within a few moments, Kurama noticed his absence, and disappeared after him, if not as fast as the swordsman.  
  
"How do I know I can trust you?" Yusuke asked softly.  
  
"You don't." Suzaku stated honestly, "In fact, logic would say you would be a fool to trust me. You thought I was dead, and I return and give you only my word that I don't intend to take my revenge, and only because I wish to learn something from you. Indeed, you would be a fool to trust me. But that does not mean that it would not be prudent to allow my aid." The former Saint Beast knelt at Yusuke's feet, holding his arms out, and offering Yusuke a clear shot at him.  
  
"The choice, Yusuke, is yours."  
  
Kuwabara said nothing. The Suzaku clone underneath the rubble had not moved since Hiei had put him there, rather forcefully. Yusuke stared into Suzaku's eyes, and realized that the demon truly meant this offer. But, he knew he would be a fool to trust the Yokai, but that was not a necessary part of working with someone. He extended his hand, and gently touched Suzaku's shoulder.  
  
"Alright. Let's see where this goes." 


	6. Chapter 4: Duplicity

Chapter 4: Duplicity  
  
Senior Director Avery Banks was not a very patient man.  
He could wait when he needed to. He had long ago learned the lessons about good things coming to those who wait. He did not commit himself before he was ready, nor did he try to hurry the things that cannot be hurried, but that didn't mean that he LIKED the waiting. As the tech peeked away at the terminal keyboard, Avery was glancing impatiently as it watch, shuffling the papers on his desk, and in general looking very annoyed.  
"Would you like something to drink, Sir?" His aide, a blue-eyed strategist with an unshakable aura, asked from behind him. Avery glared at him, even as the smiling confidant pushed a steaming cup of tea into his hands, more from habit then any real force behind the glare. In any situation, his aide was the one who could be counted on to keep a clear head and give the proper advice.  
"How can you be so calm, Matthews?" Avery demanded, his eyes searching the unchanged screens for a signal, "This could be our big break. The one step that brings us within reach of our goals."  
"Unlikely." Matthews disagreed, studying the screens in front of them both as well, "It's too soon. We know where he is now, but we haven't had a chance to saturate the area. Unless we're very lucky, the subject will only have to deal with a single member. And if he is as useful to us as we believe him to be, he should have no trouble with that."  
"You think we should call it off?" Avery asked, his hands tightening around the tea with regret.  
"No, I wouldn't exactly say that." Matthews mused, "If nothing else, it should get us confirmation that this is the proper subject. But of course, we have to narrow down his exactly location first. And there's nothing we can do but wait."  
He smiled that calm smile that made Avery want to hit him, and the Senior Director went back to shuffling his papers.  
  
*******  
  
Suzaku straightened, his mouth quirking slightly into a faint smile. The Yokai brushed the dirt from his knees as he stood, and met Yusuke's eyes with the usual calm expression, but a look of great relief in his eyes.  
"My thanks, Spirit Detective."  
"Don't mention it." The youth answered flippantly, waving a hand negligently.  
"I don't know." Kuwabara put in uncertainly, "We have enough problems with Shorty. And we know him pretty well."  
"He was an enemy before he was a friend too, you know." Yusuke countered, glancing around. After a moment, he spoke again with a deep frown, "Speaking of Hiei, Where did he go to?"  
"See!" Kuwabara exclaimed, "We have enough work ahead of us just keeping track of one demon, much less keeping track of two."  
"We prefer the term 'Apparition' if you would." Suzaku commented, "It sounds a little better, you understand."  
The attack came, as unexpected as it was sudden. Without warning, Suzaku's calm demeanor dropped to be replaced by gritted teeth and war- filled eyes, as the orange-haired Yokai lurched quickly sideways. Glittering energy gathered around his fist as his body blurred with the speed of his swing. Time seemed to slow down for Yusuke, as his body sluggishly began to obey his order to dodge. Suzaku's glittering fist got closer to him as the Yokai extended his arm toward Yusuke's head. As the buzzing spirit power neared, Yusuke knew that he would not be getting out of the way fast enough. His muscles bunched as he braced himself for the first hit of a long battle.  
But that hit didn't come. Suzaku's fist passed over Yusuke's shoulder without contact, and Yusuke's eyes turned to follow the Saint Beast's swing. As he turned, he realized that, focused as he was at the problem at hand, he had closed his mind to everything else. A sparkling ball of blue energy was screaming toward his back from the mouth of the alley. Suzaku's fist was glowing an even brighter orange as his hand and the ball made contact.  
Suzaku grunted involuntarily as the impact was absorbed into his arm. He felt his shoes slide a foot or two backward, carving a rut into the asphalt. The mass of spirit energy carved away at Suzaku's own, electricity slicing through the air as the two energies fought each other for dominance. slowly, his feet found greater purchase against the ground, and the enormous ball of energy slowed to a halt. His left hand glowing as bright as the right, Suzaku gave throat to his battle cry, as he swung wild against the attack. As his left hand made contact, the ball of light moved again, but this time it was flying back toward the direction it had come. As Yusuke fell sideways, he thought he saw a figure standing in the alley before the energy detonated against the alley flooring sending smoke, bits brick, and chunks of asphalt into the air.  
Yusuke felt his back against the cold asphalt as Suzaku swept the clearing with his eyes. Kuwabara, a few ticks late, was forming his spirit sword in his right hand and doing the same. Suzaku's lightly colored eyed met the Spirit Detectives, and his voice was low.  
"That is why you need my help, Yusuke Uramashi. You've made another enemy, and this one could prove more dangerous then any you have faced yet.."  
Turning from the smoke, Suzaku strode down the opposite alley. Picking himself off the ground, Yusuke shouted after the demon,  
"What the hell was that?!"  
"Don't you know?" Suzaku called back, "You should be familiar with the technique, Seeing as how it's yours."  
Yusuke's eyes met Kuwabara's for a split second, and the other youth was just as confused as he.  
Yeah, I know what it was. Yusuke thought, but how in the hell did whoever it is get the Spirit Gun? 


	7. Chapter 5: A Night in a Field 'Yaoi'

Chapter 5: A Night in a Field  
  
Hiei ran.  
He ran away from the city of human idiots, he ran away from the apartment, he ran from Suzaku and his own fears. Hardly winded, he kept up the pace, moving farther and farther away from the city and Kurama. He swept through the fields of workers tending the crops as the sun dropped down the hill, turning everything the bloody red of sunset. He blurred past fewer and fewer people as the day wore on the distance grew great. He hurried into a field and parted the rich smelling crop as he went through.  
Abruptly, he found himself on the ground, his head spinning and his chest stinging with pain. Lifting himself in annoyance, he glared at the culprit; a metal device of some sort colored similar to the corn. The thing was bent backward and sparked occasionally, as the speed of Hiei's impact had been too much for the thing to remain upright. He brushed at the front of his robe to get the dust off, and cursed himself for not paying attention to where he was going.  
"Hiei!" A voice called from behind him, and Kurama, his uniform torn in places and smudged with dirt and mud, parted the leaves and stood, panting and puffing, in front of Hiei. The short demon's leg twitched, as if preparing to bolt again, and the former Fox Spirit took a long step to remain in his way. "Why are you running Hiei?"  
Rather suddenly, Hiei felt very foolish. "I don't see why I need a reason to run." He said reflexively, "Or why you need to ruin your clothes to come find me." Kurama's response did not make it seem likely that the Kitsune believed the tale. One elegant eyebrow arched, and a thin smile seemed to say 'tell me another one'.  
"What is it, Hiei?" Kurama demanded again, "First, you run out of the apartment. Then, you run away from a situation where Yusuke might have needed you. I've seen you at the end of your rope and not turn tail and run, why are you doing so now."  
"Yusuke could handle the Saint Beast, if it went that way."  
"That's just dodging the question."  
"I know."  
Kurama sighed, straightening as his managed to catch his breathe. One hand reached for Hiei as his soft voice intoned, "You can talk to me, Hiei. We're partners, we're both Apparitions."  
Hiei's hand became a silver blur that resolved itself against Kurama's throat as the shiny silver Katana, sharp enough that the brief brushed with the edge started a thin trickle of blood down the Kitsune's chest. Hiei's teeth were bared as he snarled from only inches away from the other, "You're not an Apparition anymore! You're human! They're all human! I'm not going to be one of you!"  
For a long moment neither moved nor spoke. Hiei's sword caught the last red tinge of sunset as the shadows settled around them. The full moon lit their features, pale with the light. Kurama's eyes were steady as the watched, Hiei's were not.  
"Will you kill me now, Hiei?" The Yokai asked, his voice gentle, but breaking the silence as a sledgehammer breaks concrete.  
"Don't think I can't." Hiei responded, his hand trembling so badly that the tiny wound was nicked again and bled freshly, "Don't think I won't."  
"I know that you can." Kurama nodded slowly, "But I don't think you will." One slender hand rose, ghostly in the moonlight, and pushed the Katana away slowly. The sword did not resist the push, and soon dropped to Hiei's side, the dirt mixing with the small amount of blood at the tip of the blade.  
"Once, I could have, you know." Hiei whispered, his eyes closing slowly, "I never knew I could be so trapped."  
"Trapped is only one way to look at it." Kurama insisted gently, as Hiei turned and the Kitsune placed a hand on the short Yokai's shoulder, "Why don't you consider looking at the bright side?"  
"What bright side?" Hiei whispered softly, a drop of water emerging from his closed eyes, and evaporating quickly on the Fire Demon's skin, "I've forsaken my own species."  
For a time, nothing happened save Kurama's hand withdrawing from Hiei's shoulder. Abruptly, strong slender arms were wrapped around his sides, and he felt a warm mouth at his neck. His eyes popped open in surprise as he reflexively, and futilely, tried to wiggle out of the hug.  
"What are you-Kurama!" Hiei protested, his sword dropping from his suddenly nerveless fingers. He tilted his neck automatically as his red- haired captor nibbled on his neck with tender care, "What are you- ..doing..Kurama?" He managed, surprised at how quickly he was out of breath without even moving.  
"There is no love in the Spirit World." The Kitsune mentioned, his skilled hand undoing Hiei's coat and letting it fall, revealing the Yokai's taunt muscles to the moonlight. Long fingers traced the finely etched muscles of Hiei's stomach with a great deal of interest, "Is that not a bright side, Hiei?"  
"Love.." Hiei repeated, his head foggy and clouded. One of Kurama's hands rose from their game and traced the line of Hiei's nipples instead, and the short demon's breath caught in his throat. A particular hard nip at the neck, and his eyes closed, faint sounds escaping his lips that he could not repeat normally. "What..is..love..Kurama.."  
"Love simply is." Kurama answered, feeling Hiei's skin heat under him, and matched with Kurama's own heat. He felt a force deep within himself, one that demanded that he continue, and would not let him stop, even if he wanted to.  
He did not want to.  
Kurama's hands traveled farther down, sliding across browned strength and gliding under the drawstring of the other's pants. Hiei's heat blazed up as he moaned, his body overriding the brain that remained paralyzed with indecision. His voice, when it came, was low and strained.  
"Show me..love..Kurama?" He asked, his eyes shining like a child of innocence.  
"Gladly."  
The night was alive with the sounds of darkness, but Hiei and Kurama did not hear it. The only thing they heard was the beating of the other's heart. 


	8. Chapter 6: Unexpected Visits

Chapter 6: Unexpected Visits  
  
Touya knew something was wrong before he was even fully awake. His mind groggy with sleep, his arms had stretched out and encountered only emptiness beside him. Sitting up, he pushed the heavy blue covers of the bed off himself, and slid his feet around to the side of the bed. While it was not unusual for Jin to leave without telling him, usually to fly, it would have been a far more odd occurrence for the red-haired Yokai to go flying in the middle of the night. The other demon cherished their time together, and the 'lovely winds' that he claimed came from the Ice Apparition.  
Stepping from the bed, Touya gathered his robe around himself and strode through the bedroom door. The white tile under his feet was cold with the midnight chill, but, as an Ice Demon, Touya hardly noticed. After the Dark Tournament, the two of them had taken advantage of the confusion to escape Hanging Neck Island and take refuge in the human world that they had fought for. It had taken six months for them to build and design their home in the highlands, but it had been worth every second spent. As he passed through the doorway, he heard the sound of men's voices on the wind, and quickened his pace.  
The voices sounded angry.  
Sweeping through the front door, Touya's eyes took in the scene before him. Jin, his ears pointed and his face red with anger, was shouting at a deceptively calm human. A half dozen other humans were arranged in a half circle around the two, and Touya could sense more in the woods that surrounded their home. The calm human gestured sharply, and the two men on either side of Jin reached quickly and grasped the Yokai's arms firmly. With an almost negligent pull of his hand,Jin propelled the one on his right arm several feet forward into one of the other grim-faced men. As the man flew, the wind was already beginning to howl around Jin as he gathered his energy.  
Ducking past his airborne comrade, another darkly dressed human dived forward, grasping the freed arm and holding it backward. With a sharp metallic snap, the two men encased Jin's wrists in a thick black metal device vaguely reminiscent of a handcuff. As the harsh metal snapped into place, the wind around Touya's red-haired love died.  
Touya had enough time to register Jin's expression of surprise, before one of the other humans pressed another device, one that looked vaguely like a bulky gun, to the back of Jin's neck. With a loud puff of compressed air, the gun jerked in the man's hands and Jin slumped into his captor's arms. Seeing the first demon helpless, those humans not holding up the Yokai were already running toward Touya full tilt.  
Touya had been pushed far enough. Extending his energy before him, the dark grass was near instantaneously covered with a thick layer of blue frost. The shiny black shoes of the men slipped on the slippery ice, and spilled them onto their backs. Sweeping past them, his bare feet steady on the ice, Touya charged at their blank-faced leader. The Ice Apparition's energy gathered into his fist, forming into a thick blade of cold around his right hand. The deadly ice blade flashed in the night, sweeping at the man with murderous intent.  
Pain and cold blossomed in Touya's stomach, and he had to force his eyes to look downward. The man's left hand was entwined around Touya's wrist, holding the deadly attack at bay. The other hand, encased in a blade of bloody red ice, was wedged into the Apparition's stomach, just to the left of belly button. Touya recognized the attack, considering it was exactly the same as the one he has just tried to use, and he tried to ask the man how that could be, but only a thick cough of blood escaped his lips.  
A cold circle on the back of his neck, and puff of air, a tiny pinprick, and the flow of alien drugs into his system. His head swam and his vision blurred as he toppled downwardly. Strong arms caught him under his armpits, and the blank face man pulled a cell phone from his suit pocket. Touya could barely hear the human as the demon's consciousness retreated into darkness.  
"Avery? Operation was successful.."  
  
***  
  
"I don't see why we're digging through all this all night." Kuwabara complained, straining to lift one of the heavy rocks up and to the side, "It's not like whoever it was is still going to be here."  
"We've been over this." Yusuke growled, kicking a large stone out of his way, "Just keep your eyes open for anything he may have dropped trying to get out of the way."  
"This would be a lot easier if the spirit gun hadn't knocked so many rocks onto the street." Kuwabara grumbled again, peering under a small stone as if expecting to find more then the bits of gravel and asphalt.  
"Your pardons." Suzaku apologized sarcastically, leaning against the brick wall, "Next time I'll be sure to let it hit one of you instead of knocking it back."  
"I also don't see why we get to do all the digging while you stand up and watch us."  
"You don't see a lot of things, do you?"  
"What do you mean by that, spike head?"  
"Is that the best insult your feeble mind could come up with?"  
"Hey, don't make me come over ther-."  
"Would you both shut up!" Yusuke shouted at them, kneeling on the edge of a particularly large rock pile, his hand reached carefully into the dirt and immerged with a dusty scrap of cloth, "I've found something."  
Both human and demon were identically interested as they gathered around the Spirit Detective as he brushed the bit of stone off the dirty black patch. A stylized skeleton smiled at them, with large white letters scrawled across the bottom of the chin, 'Skull Squadron'.  
"Well that's hardly very encouraging." Yusuke muttered to himself.  
"What, you have skeletons after you now, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked, peering at the grinning skull. For a long moment, neither Yusuke nor Suzaku spoke, and when they did, they spoke together.  
"Kuwabara?"  
"What?"  
"Shut up." 


	9. Waaaahhhh! Author's Excuse

OK, Good news: I got a new comp for my B-day  
  
Bad News: I'm Internet less for a little while  
  
Good news: I'll still be writing  
  
Bad news: I may not be able to post them until I get my internet back  
  
Good news: If so, I'll have a huge update when I come back  
  
Also Good news: I'll be trying to post from school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from school.  
  
*Sob* Please don't leave my story! I'm almost to the really good stuff! Really! Don't leave! 


	10. Chapter 7: Human Hangups and Demonic Des...

Chapter 7: Human Hang-ups and Demonic Desires  
  
"You have to go through this nearly every day of the first part of your life?" Suzaku asked as he half-sprawled backward in his chair. His detached purple eyes swept the room with boredom, and ignored the small host of schoolgirls that sighed contentedly as his eyes past over them. Suzaku had shown up midway through the first hour of school, and Yusuke had no idea how the orange-haired Yokai had managed to talk his way in Yusuke's class, but at least it gave him someone to talk to. With nearly an hour in class, the various young ladies of the class were instantly swept up in a horrible case of hero-worship. Suzaku's chilly responses to their scattered questions had only temporarily kept them at arms length, and the Demon was speaking frankly while he could.  
"More or less." Yusuke grumbled, leaning back as well and earning a glare from a girl whose view of the Bishonen had been cut off, "Explains why I've ditched more often then not, doesn't it?"  
"This, in turn, explains why you've been in the same grade for the last three years." Suzaku muttered, earning a harsh look from the spirit detective. With a yawn, Suzaku added, "If this is what you humans do day in and day out, I may go back to my 'idiot race that deserves extinction' theory."  
"If I don't pass again, I may just join you in that." The green- jump suited youth quipped, putting his hands behind his hands and gazing at the ceiling. At the front of the class, the teacher droned on about something or other, but it was not surprising that Yusuke did not pay attention to it. For a long moment, he pleasantly daydreamed about telling the host of girls who their handsome target really was, but dismissed it. After all, if, on the off chance, they believed him, it would only cause trouble.  
"I really would love to stay here and all, but I doubt I'm learning very much about you humans just observing you in your boredom." Suzaku grumbled, sitting up in his seat. Yusuke glanced at him incredulously and said,  
"Hey, even I don't walk out in the middle of class." He protested, "You can't just get up and go anytime you feel like it."  
"You underestimate me, Spirit Detective." Suzaku smiled at him. His hands clasped in front of his stomach, and his eyes closed. For a moment, the line of his closed eyes glowed slightly orange as he invoked his energy.  
The world turned topsy-turvy for the oddly dressed Demon. He was drowning in a sea of blue motion, feeling wind that was not real as his will was flung across space. His stomach, if he still had it, felt like it wanted to cough up his lunch the other way. He gave a chill scream that no one heard as he felt himself funneled through another container.  
For a long moment, Suzaku simply concentrated on breathing raggedly. Though he had performed the technique before, it was not a very pleasant one to use. He found himself on his knees, the thin cloth of his pants not fully keeping off the chill of the floor of Genkai's temple. Though each of his duplicates had their own free will and personality, he, the user of the technique, had ultimate control over them. When he perished, his personality and will was transferred over the bond between himself and his clones, overriding the clone's own personality. Over long practice, he had learned to transfer himself over the link and trade places with one of his other selves without dying.  
But it certainly wasn't pleasant.  
He stood, nearly fully recovered, and smiled at the sparsely furnished temple. After an hour of being stuck inside the human classroom, he was highly thankful to transfer out of it. The clone he had replaced, Three, was actually rather interested in the learning centers, which is why he had chosen to replace that one.  
"Suzaku." A soft voice called from behind him, and the Yokai turned to find Kurama leaning against one of the wooden doors leading into the room. The other demon's reddish pink jumpsuit stood out clearly against the dark oak wall behind him, "I thought you had gone to school with Yusuke, but I sense that the real you has remained here." Suzaku was not thrilled to let another in on the secrets of his techniques, so when his answer came, it was rather curt.  
"I got bored."  
"I see. And what do you plan to alleviate that?"  
"I was planning on going for a walk around the city."  
"Would you like company?"  
"To watch the people or to watch me?" Suzaku asked pointedly, a slightly flash of ire at this verbal sparring.  
"Both." Kurama replied, his calm face completely unfazed by the question, "Your intentions may well be benign, but I have no reason to assume so." The demon Yoko's grey eyes flashed momentarily through Kurama's and met Suzaku's purple orbs. It was a subtle threat, but one that did not bother Suzaku.  
"Alright, feel free to come along then."  
  
***  
  
"These humans truly are interesting creatures." Suzaku observed, stepping carefully across the red brick. The day grown late as they toured the town. Kurama was a fascinating tour guide. Every inch of the city was his territory, and every facet of it had been examined and calculated into an overall picture of what the world was. When Suzaku had complimented him on this, however, Kurama insisted that it was merely a result of misplaced energy upon first arriving.  
"One learns nothing about humans from simply observing." He had said, "I thought I could understand them simply by time and close proximity, but it did not work out that way."  
"How did it work out?" Suzaku had asked curiously, his neck craning to peer at the former Fox Spirit walking to his left. Kurama's arms were folded over his stomach in the style of a well-fed senator preparing to deliver a lecture.  
"It was like a sickness." Kurama explained, his voice faltering slightly, "Or at least that's how I viewed it at first. A slow annexing of what I once was as I began to act in fashions that did not make sense to my former logic. By the time I realized it was happening, it was too late to stop it. Because I did not want to stop it."  
They had walked in silence since then, and Suzaku had been turning that conversation over in his head. Yoko Kurama, the legendary spirit bandit, had been snared in a net so fine that, even once the trap had been realized, it was pursued to its ending regardless. For a long moment, Suzaku's felt a very real fear. If a demon that specialized in robbery and escaping had been caught so easily, how would he survive?  
But he was not Kurama, he told himself, and he would not be snared the same way. Across the street, he caught sight of a pair of people. One female, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, and a male of about the same age. As he watched, the two held hands on a bench, their faces hidden by the shadows of the setting sun. The male leaned down, and touched his lips to the female's. Rather then being frightened by this strange motion, the female seemed to enjoy the experience, and the two held that pose for a good amount of time.  
"Kurama?" He asked his guide curiously, pointing at the couple, "I'm afraid I've missed something of my human history there. What type of ritual is that?" Kurama turned interested, and glanced the couple across the street. For a long moment, he stood with a bemused expression his face. Then he chuckled, long and slowly, as he turned back to the rather confused former Saint Beast.  
"All this time studying the human race." He laughed, "And you have not seen kissing before?" Suzaku felt his face heat, and he snarled back at the Spirit Fox,  
"I'm here to learn, and that implies there are things I don't know!" He admitted loudly, "Why don't you stop laughing and explain?"  
"It's a sign of affection." Kurama explained, the laughter in his voice still rankling Suzaku, "Humans enjoy the activity, and most indulge in it as often as possible. It gives them pleasure."  
"Pleasure?"  
"An emotional form of it, similar to comfort, and closely related to love" Kurama continued slowly, and Suzaku turned immediately to pay attention to the lecture, "In fact, it is the most common outright sign of love that I'm aware of. In my opinion, I would have to say that the power of love is directly related to the human perchance of-."  
Kurama's words ended in a muffled set of sounds as a gentle pressure moved over his mouth. His eyes opened wide with surprised as he realized what was happening.  
Suzaku was kissing him!  
  
***  
  
"So, what news?" Matthews asked, leaning behind the tech and gazing at the green flashing screen displayed in the center of the terminal.  
"The news isn't good, Sir." The tech, Peterson, told the icy-eyed Chief Aide, "The blood we have of the Main Subject is growing more diluted each time we pull what we need from it. It would be dangerous to invest in one more soldier, and impossible for two I suspect. Simply put, we need a fresher source."  
"Damnit." Matthews snarled, and the aide looked at him in surprise. In the last five years, Peterson had never seen the other swear or even lose his blank faced stare. The tech straightened his glasses, and batted stray strands of greasy black hair out of his face as Matthews continued, "Alright, what else is going to blow up in our face?" It was a rhetorical question, but one Peterson had an answer for anyway.  
"I'm beginning to worry about overexposure, Sir." He said gravely, tapping his keyboard like a chicken hunting for bits of grain, and another display popped onto the screen, "Some of the units used for these operations are beginning to exhibit signs of mental instability."  
"Instability?" Matthews sneered, "They're military, name one who's stable to begin with."  
"Yes, Sir." Peterson replied, only because he had to, "But it's worse then that. Each groups is beginning to show signs of pronounced mental and emotional strain. The speed of the process varies from group to group almost exactly in accordance with how much exposure they've had to our injections. In Particular, Guiness, Skull, and Wolf have been showing symptoms of a greater problem. I've written a full report, if you and the Director would care to read it."  
"I'll read it." The cold aide commented slowly, his eyes squinted in thought, "But cut any reference to it out of the copies sent to the Director." Peterson turned to look at him with outright surprise written all over his face.  
"Cut it out, Sir?" He asked in surprise, then a tad of angry confusion, "I can't just take things out of an official report to one of my Commanding Officers. You can't order me to-."  
"Oh no." Matthews corrected, his tight smile reminded Peterson of a tiger on the prowl, "I'm not ordering you to, and I'm just going to let you choose your policy. If honesty is your decision, then I'll have to be honest as well. So when the local police receives a anonymous tip of a local computer aide with an adolescent paramour."  
"You're a bastard, Sir!"  
"Thank you. I want the paper on my desk, and only mine, by the end of the hour."  
  
***  
  
Kurama's hand came up without conscious thought, forming into a fist and bashing into Suzaku's temple with enough force to make the Yokai's knees feel faint, sending the former Saint Beast a few steps backward. Kurama's chest heaved with indignation, and his eyes were filled with fire as he met Suzaku's chilly cool orbs.  
"What on Earth was that about?" Kurama demanded harshly, reaching out and grasping the front of the other demon's shirt and nearly losing a grip on his human side as his anger raged.  
"Did I not do this correctly?" Suzaku asked him calmly, his fingers coming up to grip Kurama's arm and force it away from his throat, "You told me this action gives humans pleasure, and you retain a human body. Is there more to it?"  
"It's not simply that easy!" Kurama raged, but was catching hold of his anger, forcing himself to speak more quietly to avoid the attention he had already garnered from the nearby people. Of course, Suzaku would have no knowledge of social significance behind the kiss, nor the effect of simply indulging in one without warning. "That action implies a level of relationship we have not, and will not, reach."  
"Why?" Suzaku asked coolly, and Kurama wanted to hit him because, as Yoko, he would have said the same thing. Cool analysis and detached interest was all a demon had to keep them going, and very few Apparitions ever advanced beyond that point. His teeth, slightly pointed with his spirit fox past, ground together for a long moment. When, he finally spoke his voice was surprisingly calm.  
"That action has a great deal of significance to it." He explained tightly, "It is done only with close family, or those in love. In either case, there is a great deal more time spent in the relationship then a casual friendship. Besides, it is standard to kiss and pursue only the opposite sex, not the same one, and only then a single person after a long courtship"  
"There are no exceptions?" Suzaku asked softly, and Kurama's thoughts flashed momentarily to the small field slightly outside of the town. Pulling his mind from those thoughts, he snarled with more anger then he meant to,  
"You'll not find your exception with me!" The red-haired Fox Spirit turned on his heels and strode off into the night. Suzaku watched him go, the Saint's Beast's cold purple eyes scanning until his target disappeared into the crowd. Then, he shrugged, and strode off further down the street. Another pedestrian on a busy sidewalk. 


	11. Chapter 8: Unusual Circumstances, Unusua...

Chapter Eight: Unusual Circumstances, Unusual Allies  
  
The man with the black trench coat moved very quietly over the hard stone of the small temple. His feet moved gracefully to avoid the leaves and branches that would give away his presence, yet covered the ground between himself and his target swiftly. It was clear from the unhurried expression that the man was not an amateur at this game, nor was he an enthusiast. He was a professional, and professionals did not make mistakes. His stride was both quick, and nearly completely silence.  
Unfortunately, 'nearly' was not quite good enough.  
His blue-haired target blurred unexpectedly as the man reached forward with the 'Sweet Dreams' gun, as those at the base had nicknamed it. The soldier's eyes tracked the blur desperately, turning to the side and twisting his neck to follow the speedy motion. The dizzying motion abruptly resolved itself into a flash of metal and calm violet eyes that met his own.  
"State your name and your business!" Shishi Wakamaru hissed, the knife in his hand pressing close enough to make an indent on the intruder's throat, "Or, if you'd rather, you can stay silent and I'll have a body to get rid of."  
"That's not necessary." A voice said from behind, and Shishi sidestepped quickly to be able to keep an eye on his captive and look at the newcomer. He was not particularly impressed with the small group of humans that met his eyes. Five more of the soldier types, identical to the one he held at knifepoint and one pale but impeccably dressed leader. The well-dressed one was the one who had spoken earlier, and he looked like he would be much more comfortable in an air conditioned bank then here in the middle of nowhere, looking at a likely bloodbath.  
"Please, why don't you let him go?" The man said, smiling as he brushed off his finely tailored black suit, "If you come along quietly, things will go much more smoothly for both of us."  
"Perhaps you should rethink harassing me." Shishi countered, his knife-edge shifting slightly, creating a thin dribble of blood down the motionless soldier's neck, "You can always walk away, and maybe some of you will survive."  
The leader's expression did not change as his nodded to the five around him. Almost simultaneously, the soldier's started forward and Shishi's neck buried itself deep into his attacker's jugular vein. Snatching up his sheathed sword, Shishi rushed forward and swung the weapon down at the first victim. Instinctively, the man reached upwards and caught the wooden casing for the ancient sword. Shishi yanked sharply on the hilt, pulling the shining sword from the captive sheath. Twisting his body around, he used the motion to cut a circle around himself with the sharp- bladed weapon, carving an angry red line across the stomach of the man still holding the empty sheath. Another soldier swept past him and Shishi stepped almost disdainfully to the side, the hilt of his sword impacting the back of the fighter's head as he dodged. Unconscious now, the soldier fell against one of his compatriots, entangling freedom of movement.  
Smiling coldly, Shishi turned his eyes back to the remarkably calm commander, and that's when everything went wrong. Their leader vanished, and a rush of wind swept over Shishi's left shoulder, signaling a passage too fast for even the veteran demon to follow it. As Shishi's body sluggishly moved to track it, he felt the gathering energy over his shoulder. For a short moment, he glimpsed sight of the leader's hand glowing with a blue energy, and then he felt the pain.  
The world spun sickeningly as his feet left the ground, the force of the discharge knocking up bits and pieces of the earth around him. His body swept end over end in a dizzying kaleidoscope of color and motion. Without warning, the ground broke his fall as he tumbled and rolled over the tightly compacted soil. His shoulder impacted against the bark of a tree, and he felt something give way in his arm as the last bit of motion was bled off at once. Shishi's clothes were smoldering, and his head wobbled as he raised his eyes in front of him.  
The 'banker' was striding toward him, his men swarming around him like displaced ants, from a good twenty yards away, at a spot he recognized as the place he had started his fight. Shishi struggled to make his arms work, or to force his energy to respond, but did not have the strength for either. He nearly screamed with a soldier pulled his shattered arm behind him and shackled it to the other. The cold-faced leader was kneeling near him, and Shishi willed his mouth to work.  
"Who-..Are-..You-..?" He managed, his field of vision dimming with the edges of dreams. His eyelids and his head begin to lower as his dented strength faded from him.  
"Matthews will suffice." The man smiled, and his smile was the last thing Shishi registered as unconsciousness took him and his vision faded into blackness.  
  
***  
  
The flowers were a brilliant red, a dazzling display of floral color tapering off into stems of deepest green. The smell of them was a divine glimpse into the beauty of nature, and they swayed softly in the afternoon breeze. The jade stems swept down deeply into the rich brown dirt, around which the faded orange flowerpot was gathered. Suzaku held the pot of flowers in his hand, studying the floral beauty for a long moment, and wondered what the hell he was doing.  
Walking the street, he had noticed the rich selection of plants at a nearby vendor and had purchased them with his scant supply of human money. Kurama, he knew, had a predilection for plants of all types, and a gift, such as this, would be a step toward making an apology to the demon for the misunderstanding of the night before. On this reasoning, he had taken the plant with him without much thought.  
But now he was thinking about it, and thinking about it very hard. Why should he care whether the fox demon was upset or not? It would present no serious obstacle to his plans, and, in fact, might interfere with his main objective on earth. By all accounts, Suzaku should just leave the other Yokai to his snit, and quietly work while the other was avoiding him out of petty anger.  
But it didn't seem right.  
Cursing himself, Suzaku strode down the street, flowers in hand. He reached a garbage can, a receptacle for waste material, and lifted the flowerpot to slam down into the black abyss. But then he hesitated, it would be illogical to the extreme to purchase the item and then throw it away seconds later. With a start, he realized that his logic was being overcome by emotion again, in the opposite way.  
"What is this?" He asked of the air, momentarily glad there were no true humans in the area to here him asking such strange question. His arm lowered slowly, until he held the flowerpot in front of his stomach. For a while, he just looked at it, and wondered how such a simple item could completely defy explanation.  
"I do not understand." He said quietly to himself, his shoulders slumping slightly.  
"But I will."  
  
***  
  
"And who are these people we're going to see?" Kuwabara asked tiredly, as he strode along the side streets. Younger kids and older adults quietly crossed to the other side of the street as he passed. Walking purposely in front of the other, Yusuke was in a poor mood. His foot strayed to kick at any loose rock on the side walk, and his glower kept any of the young toughs brave enough to challenge Kuwabara from getting anywhere near their little party.  
"They're a group of kids I know." Yusuke mumbled with his teeth closed, "And they can help us, that's about all there is."  
"Don't tell me you're tired of walking already?" Hiei asked Kuwabara insulting, as he walked unhurriedly in the rear, "We haven't even hit ten miles yet."  
"Watch it, Shorty, don't make me come down there!"  
"You and what army, you oversized punching dummy?"  
"What did you say!"  
"Sorry, you haven't got the brains to be a dummy."  
"Would you two shut up!" Yusuke shouted, for what seemed to him like the 20th time that day. Both the arguers gave an 'Hnh' sound as they turned away from each other. Abruptly, Yusuke stopped at a large, nondescript door of a decrepit warehouse. Kuwabara was less then impressed.  
  
"This is it?" He demanded, "You led us all the way out here to some run down dump in the middle of nowhere?"  
"They like their privacy." Yusuke explained shortly. Stepping up to the metal door, he pounded on it once, then twice, then once again.  
"Much as I hate to agree with the oaf, I don't see why we came here." Hiei said shortly, gazing at the stained and crumbling building, "There's no one inside with more spirit energy then your average six year old child."  
"There's more to life then spirit energy."  
"On the contrary, life IS spirit energy."  
"Ha ha."  
The door shook, as a heavy metal bar was slide back on the inside. The rusty hinges creaked spiteful as the door slowly swung inward, and a young teenager poked his head at, squinting at them suspiciously. His red hair was long and unruly, and the rest of his body was not impressive as he edged cautiously into the sunshine. His pale, freckled skin was testament to a life nearly untouched by the light of the sun, and it was clear he was uncomfortable out of door. He resettled his glasses on his face, and smiled at Yusuke.  
"Urameshi!" He exclaimed, extending a hand and granting a quick handshake, "What brings you to their neighborhood at this time of year, school is off for a while isn't it?"  
"I'm here for more important reasons." Yusuke grimaced to him, then managed a faint smile, "I imagine that will raise the price won't it, Ama?"  
"Everything raises the price." Ama smiled honestly, opening the door further, "But most of the time, you come alone. Who're your friends?"  
"This is Kuwabara." Yusuke said shortly, waving in the general direction of his group, "He's someone I can't keep from following me. And the little one is Hiei, he's a..erm..call him a friend." Kuwabara looked like he wanted to pound Yusuke into the dirt, Hiei simply glanced away with a 'Hnh'.  
"Some interesting friends you have." Ama commented quietly, and then waved the three of them inside. As they entered the cold warehouse, they were nearly struck with the loud sounds of humming machines. The floors and ceilings were crisscrossed with wires, and discarded computer components were left on tables, gathering dust. Fast food wrapper and potato chip bags nearly overflowed the bin, and a pile of pizza boxed nearly reached the ceiling in one corner. An unmonitored bank of screens showed pictures of the outside of the building, and this was completely ignored by the other two residents.  
The first of these others was like sprawled negligently in front of a flashing computer screen. His eyes following the little spray of light as he devoured the latest game craze. This ones skin had some tan to them, but it was clear this was a racial characteristic rather then proof of his life outdoors. His hair, short and brown, glowed slightly in the reflected light of the screen. The other, long blue hair halfway covering his face to his shoulders, was asleep on the highly dented couch halfway inside the room.  
"Let me introduce you to the rest of the team." Ama said friendly, pointing at the one engrossed in the game, "The big one over there is Kaze, and sleeping beauty on the couch is Klick." Kaze looked at them long enough to wave shortly, then returned to his game. Klick was reluctant to rise, and it was only after Ama solidly kicked the couch that he acknowledged their existence at all. Turning back to the Spirit Detective's party, Ama continued, "We're the three partners of Asterisk."  
"Asterisk? What the hell is that?" Kurabara asked confusedly, rubbernecking to take the whole building in at once. Ama's smile was patient, but a trifle strained.  
"Depends on who it's used." The pale youth stated, "If you mean the word itself, then it's the star shaped key on a computer keyboard. If you mean us, we're a group of programmers that specialize in getting information onto or off of other computers."  
"You're speaking over his head." Yusuke grinned, smiling at the perplexed expression Kuwabara's face.  
"Alright then." Ama said, sighing, "We're hackers, and damned good ones. Yusuke uses us occasionally to take the edge off his grades; the schools are all computerized these days. I owe him a favor or two, so it didn't cost him TOO much."  
"A couple of the local punks were roughing him up after school." Yusuke explained, waving his hand dismissively, "I was just looking for a fight that day, nothing noble about it."  
"Perhaps so." Ama conceded, "But you use your strength for me, I use mine for you, as is only fair. What did you need, anyway?"  
"I'm looking for information on a 'skull squadron.' ever heard of it?"  
Ama rattled this around for a while, and then finally said, "Can't say I have, but it sounds military. You want us to do a data search, I presume?"  
"More then that." Yusuke said, gritting his teeth, "A data search is a good start, but I need more then that. I need everything you can get me. Who they are, where they come from, and why." Ama whistled lowly, and fixed his glasses again. Leaning back, he squinted at the ceiling for a long moment, then asked,  
"It won't be cheap. Military systems aren't out of our range, but their not pushovers either. Depending on how deep these guys are hiding, it could cost you a bundle."  
"That's what I'm afraid of. Keep me up to date on it, all right. I'd like to know when I get in over my head."  
"Will do."  
  
***  
  
"Here!" Suzaku said shortly, pressing the flowerpot into Kurama's hands, "I'm sorry about yesterday." The orange-haired yokai stalked off, grumbling to himself, leaving Kurama to stare after him in wonderment. After a moment, he glanced down at his hands and gentle touched the rose he'd been gifted with. After a moment, chuckling softly, he went back to his room.  
"He's already lost." He chuckled. 


	12. Chapter 9: First Strike

Chapter 9: First Strike  
  
"How are we doing here?" Avery asked his blue-eyed aide as he stepped off the plane. His eyes were lined and his knees practically trembled with fatigue, but he was still excited enough to check the progress on their amazing project. He wished he could show the governmental bean counters the kind of advances that they were making in the project; if he did they would run to give me all the funding he wished, not make him scratch out a plan on their increasingly meager budgets. Matthews stepped up respectfully, taking the coat from the Senior Director as they hustled to the car.  
"Ahead of schedule." He responded quietly, sliding into the driver's seat of the rich, extremely rich, car and shutting the door on the crowd, "We managed to capture of a pair of high priorities the day you left, you recall me calling you, and yesterday we got a tip on one of the other ones, and got him too."  
"Oh that's just fine, Matthews." Avery crooned contentedly, grinning to himself like a little boy with a puppy as the car began to thread through the mid-afternoon traffic. When they had first envisioned the project, he had not even believed it to be serious. A chance encounter by a drunken soldier on leave into a martial arts tournament filled with demons had sounded like the vodka talking. After sending some men to ascertain the truth of it, however, and watching the tapes himself, all other projects had been placed on hold. Even back then, they had no idea how quickly they would advance the project once it had been started. Six month later, and they were already so far in so many different areas, it was truly amazing.  
"How did we do there, Sir?" Matthews pried politely, as he always did. The poor aide hated to be surprised by anything, and Avery's slightly erratic decisions occasionally through him off. The news, he knew, would likely be bad, but not wholly unprepared for.  
"Reduced by three percent." Avery sighed, and Matthew's nodded as if it was all going according to plan, "And they want the other ninety- seven. I had to do some fast talking to keep them from cutting us entirely, they don't even know what our project is, remember. I had to promise a weapon test in three months, too."  
"Three months." Matthews mused quietly, "At this rate, we'll have enough in three months to blow their socks off. At that point, I don't think funding will be a problem." A pedestrian jaywalking flipped him the finger as the huge black car thundered down the street.  
"No doubt." Avery smiled agreeably, pouring himself a stiff drink, "Are we having any luck on the Primaries?"  
"Some." Matthew's answered noncommittally, "We pulled off of them for a while after they nearly blew away our scout. We caught a bad break looking for where they live, the school's records were not recent, and we ended up at the wrong house. Fortunately, we spoke to a student who was glad to point us the correct way. We know the location of the Urameshi's home, and the path to his mentor's temple, where most of them seem to be staying."  
"Have we done anything with that information?"  
"Just watched thus far. A short while ago, another one came to stay with them, shortly after our first contact. We've named him Multiplier, due to the powers we've witnessed. We've no idea who he is, but we're confidant that we can take him as well. We have Wolf Squadron standing by, with their skills, I felt they were better suited then the other two. We await only your order and nightfall." Avery took a dip sip of his drink, grinning into the kick of the alcohol.  
"Do it."  
  
***  
  
Yusuke crossed the floor carefully and handed Suzaku a mug of steaming tea. For all of here hardened heart, no one stayed in Genkai's temple without a cup of tea. The orange-haired demon hardly noticed, lifting the cup and sipping at it gingerly without moving anything but his hands. His eyes were focused out the window as they had been for most of the day. A direct question would bring the demon back for a few minutes, but then his attention drifted again.  
It was clear that something was on his mind.  
"Hey, what's wrong with him?" Kuwabara whispered to Yusuke, finally noticing the change in the Yokai. His eyes squinted suspiciously at the demon, but Suzaku did not stir.  
"How the hell should I know?" Yusuke countered, glowering at the other youth, but, in truth, he was rather curious as well. Suzaku had always been a veritable sink of implied insults or a flood of probing questions. Both played nicely into the demon's amazing love for the sound of his own voice, but the Yokai remained more or less silent.  
"What are you whispering about, Dimwit?" Genkai asked pointed, sipping her own tea, "If you can't say something that is worth everyone hearing don't say anything at all!"  
The room fell silent, and Suzaku stared out the window again.  
  
***  
  
Three was rather bored. He, Five, and Seven were standing at the top of the steps to Genkai's temple, keeping an eye out for people in a place where there weren't any people. It was a little better to have some company on guard duty, unlike Two and Six, who were on guard duty. However, since each of them was a slightly different aspect of the same demon, Suzaku, it made conversation a little less interesting.  
Surprisingly enough, Five had some interesting news. While tailing One and Kurama, he, too, had witnessed the human custom of 'kissing' and was quite intrigued. So too, it seemed, was One, as he had been alone in his thoughts since returning a yesterday. The three Suzaku clones huddled close together in the cool of the light rain, confidant in their ability to sense anyone powerful enough to pose a significant threat.  
  
Unfortunately, their confidence was misplaced.  
Three's back was to the steps, and when the other two clone's eyes widened in shock looking over his shoulder, he reacted quickly and spun on his heels. His eyes registered just a moment of the handle of a gun before it, and the hand that held it, impacting against his forehead and sent him tumbling downward. With a sound like a stuttering sneeze, the assailant reversed crossed his silenced pistols before him and opened fire on the other two copies. As Three hit the brick with a wet thud, the pistols were once again pointed squarely at him.  
A flash.  
Pain.  
Darkness.  
  
***  
  
Two grimaced, holding his chest momentarily as the quick pain dissipated. Someone had killed one of his brother clones, and he turned to shout at Six, to organize and make sure that whoever it was never tried it again. A black glove hand snaked around from behind him, and his throat was suddenly on fire, as the piano wire tightened around his air pipe. Clawing as his assassins arms, he drew his spirit energy around himself forming a blaze of electrical energy, but could not seem to impact against his target. As Two was methodically strangled to death, his eyes cast imploring toward the spot where Six has stood only moments before.  
Cold, and dead, purple eyes stared blankly up at him from against the wall.  
  
***  
  
The tea cup shattered on the floor, causing Yusuke and Kuwabara to jump a few feet into the air. As their gaze swept the room, they were surprised to find Suzaku on his knees, broken bits of cup before him, his hand drawn protectively over his temples as if to ease a terrible headache. Yusuke opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but was cut off by the orange-haired Yokai's snarl.  
"Get ready, we've got company!" He shouted, "They've managed to take out my copies outside, in only a few seconds!" As the demon spoke, orange energy sparked over his arms, eclipsing him within in a brightening aura all of his own. For a moment, part of Yusuke's mind was mildly surprised by the amount of power the Former Saint Beast was pumping out, given that it was more then the sum of his powers when the two had fought in the Saint Beast's Tower.  
The other half of his mind was busy getting ready to fight.  
There was only one door into the room, and Yusuke gathered his spirit power into his finger, prepping his spirit gun bullet. Kuwabara's hands flashed, forming a spirit sword on both sides, and even Genkai crouched low as she faced the closed sliding door. Suzaku's energy circled him like a tame lightening bolt, and time ticked by.  
"Do you feel anyone, Kuwabara?" Yusuke asked, as time ticked by. A thin bead of sweat traveled down one side of his face as he shifted his eyes to the other youth. Kuwabara shook his head negatively, glancing away from the door only momentarily. For a long moment, the room was completely still and silent, literally humming with the gathered energy of the inhabitants, then everything went to hell at once.  
With a crash of crumpled paper, and a darkly dressed form dropped in through the ceiling, landing on his feet easily and lifting his pistols into firing position. Suzaku spun, his energy on a hair trigger, and motioned with his hands, launching a wild shot of pure destructive power at their fighter, and at the same time, Yusuke aimed his spirit gun and cut loose with the blue bullet. The orange lightning streak toward the target, and bounced off the man like a ping pong ball, burning a large hole in the already dented ceiling. The man lifted an arm over his eyes in futile defense as the Spirit Gun rapidly crossed the distance from point blank range.  
And vanished, as if the energy had been a candle to be snuffed. The Spirit Detective and his friends stared in amazement as the man, completely unharmed, opened fire with the thick pistol in his hand. Kuwabara, abruptly the owner of three metal darts stuck through his white coat, swayed on his feet for a half second, but toppled over onto what was a wooden table, and then started snoring. With another crass, the single door to the room was kicked open, and two darts were sticking out of Genkai's back as she turned toward the confusion. As she stumbled forward, Yusuke took advantage of the time to leap sideways and tip over the table to use as cover. The wood shook as the first thug tracked the motion and pumped a few darts into it as he wildly tracked with his pistol.  
This proved to be a fatal error.  
Suzaku blurred, leaving afterimages as he rushed the distracted shooter. Discarding spirit attacks until he knew the cause of the problem, his tactic was a simple body check that sent the man through a new hole in the right wall. The demon blur resolved itself into a recognizable image only for a second, as he grabbed the tea kettle and flung it toward the man at the door, shattering against his black helmet but sending hot tea and ceramic fragments into his eyes. A second man stepped up, unloading a string of darts at the Saint Beast, and causing the other to fling himself sideways. For a moment Yusuke though he'd managed to escape, but he noticed the metallic cylinder in Suzaku's leg only when the demon skidded to a complete halt against the wall.  
Rushing forward with a yell, Yusuke's punch sent the soldier through the wall to join his other companion, and Urameshi was turning just was the remaining attacker was brushing the scalding liquid and blood out of his eyes. A tiny shriek caught his, and the soldier's, attention, and he glanced down the hall. Yukina, her soft eyes wide with terror, half cowered at the end of the hall.  
In the man's defense, his eyes were still hurting and his head was blurred from the fight. As his hand reached down to his side, his fingers fount the weapon guard of the wrong pistol. As he brought it up and fired, it was a spray of metal slugs, rather then darts, that emerged from the tip. Even as Yusuke's fist shattered most of the ribs in his chest, Yukina was dropping to the ground, already soaked in red blood.  
  
***  
  
"Come in, Hiei." Yukina called softly, and the door slide open and closed silently. The temple was a mess, between the blood stains and the trashed furniture. The room Yukina was resting in was one of the few undamaged by the sneak attack, and Hiei had insisted, forcefully, that his sister be the one to get it. His hand tightened on his sword, and his mind was suddenly filled with flames.  
He would kill the ones responsible, slowly. The ones who had actually done the deed had been taken out most effectively by the Spirit Detective, but hadn't stopped Hiei from nearly Dark Dragoning Yusuke and the other band of pathetic miscreants that had allowed his sister to come to harm. If not for Kurama's insistence that seeing to the injured was more important, the fight would have been long and bloody.  
"How are you?" He asked, his voice impersonal, though a part of him wished he knew how to be more warm.  
"It hurts." She said honestly, grimacing slightly. A small collection of pearls lay beside her cheeks on the pillow where she had cried, "But Kurama's help made it more numb."  
"You'll be alright." Hiei promised her softly, "Kurama may not be the most logical demon, but he's a good amount of healing skill. We may not know what's keeping them from a direct healing, but it doesn't mean his herbs have no effect. Sleepy easy, you'll be alright."  
"Thank you, Hiei.." She yawned, his eyelids drooping slowly, "I trust you..but..please, a favor?"  
"Anything."  
"Watch over me tonight?" She asked in a piteous voice, as he eyes closed after the effort to speak.  
"Of course." Hiei nodded to her, as she sank deeper into her bed sheets and her breathing steadied with herb induced sleep. With a surprisingly gentle touch, he pulled her blankets up to her cheek, and tucked the sides in around her warmly.  
"Sleep well, Sister mine.." 


	13. Chapter 10: Rebuilding

Chapter 10: Rebuilding  
  
"Careful now." Kurama cautioned, sliding his hand carefully over the new door, a considerable degree more thick then the previous one. A pair of hand held the opposite side, pressing the door into the track with impatience.  
"It's a door replacement." Hiei countered, pressing once more on the tap of the wood panel, jamming it into place, "It's not exactly all that difficult to do, Kurama." Giving the door an experimental slide, Hiei was pleased to see that the door slid along the track without problem, on the first try to place the new one in. Glancing over the day's work, the fire demon was momentarily pleased with the tidy sitting area where, a short while ago, there had been only the wreckage after the attack. Bloodstains in the hall, crumpled bodies sprawled across shattered furniture, a pair of holes in the wall, all had been meticulously cleaned. Hiei had greatly enjoyed getting rid of the bodies of the ones who had hurt his sister, though Kurama was not particularly pleased with the makeshift cremation.  
Yukina and Genkai were still abed, recovering from their injuries and Hiei had to force down his first impulse of going to check on his sister again. He knew that she was just fine and likely sleeping a great deal. Kurama had assured him that time was the only thing needed, and he trusted the sneaky Kitsune to make that assertion. In fact, after nearly collapsing from what was, in essence, no more then a probing attack had erased most of the respect he felt for the others in the human world. That he had trusted them to watch over his sister in the first place sent a pang of guilt into his heart. Perhaps, if he had stay here-  
Warm fingers curled over the back of his hand, and his glanced up into Kurama warm eyes. Another hand rested gently on the fire demon's shoulder, a secret display of comfort that nearly made Hiei forget his thoughts.  
Nearly.  
"She'll be alright." Kurama assured him, yet again. Comforting fingers ran through Hiei's hair as the smaller demon leaned reluctantly into the sense of friendship. The hand continued its journey, circling Hiei's cheek and resting for only a moment of reassurance.  
"I know." Hiei said, giving himself a mental shake and stepping out of reach. Though he may have unbent slightly to the idea of allowing the emotions that went with time in the human world to run their course, he did not think it was wise to let them hold too much sway, lest he be lost without them. He knew, also, that had it gone on for a few more second, he would not have been able to pull away at all. Turning abruptly, the short demon slipped out through the new door and down the hall. Shrugging briefly to himself, Kurama half turned and nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise.  
"What was that about?" Suzaku asked curiously, his purple eyes focused intently on Kurama's face. The look nearly unnerved Kurama, as he was unused to the Yokai being so single minded.  
"What was what?" He evaded, more out of surprise then any real attempt to deceive. He did not think the former Saint Beast would be dissuaded so easily, and he was not disappointed. Suzaku snorted skeptically, and simply raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "Alright, what it was is none of your business." Kurama clarified shortly.  
"You love, don't you?"  
"What makes you say that?"  
"Do you?"  
"What's it to you?"  
"Do you?"  
"Yes, I do!" Kurama snapped growing tired of this game, "Why do you want to know so much?!" Suzaku studied his face with that emotionless mask most demons wore, and the Kitsune wanted to smack him for it. He expected the demon to clarify, but on this he was sorely disappointed. Suzaku just stood, his body swaying slightly with the effects of a drug not entirely purged from his system. Both he and Kuwabara had awakened healthy but with terrible headaches, Genkai's age made her case a bit more complicated, however, and Kurama had to keep checking in on her to see how she was doing.  
Suzaku tilted his head slightly, studying the ceiling with a careful expression. When he finally spoke, his voice was a soft whisper, possessing none of the strength of his usual tones.  
"So, at last I understand, what love means."  
"No one will love you the way you are." Kurama told him gravely, "Love is a human emotion. Only through that aspect can it be attained."  
"We'll see."  
Before Kurama could question or even react the other demon was gone, out the hall through the same door Hiei had escaped through. The Kitsune shook his head in confusion, and turned back to the rest of the room. Let Suzaku work out his agendas on his own, as long as it didn't interfere with Kurama's own, they would be tolerated.  
And if they did, well, that could be dealt with when the time came.  
  
***  
  
"Yusuke, you idiot!" Koenma raged, waving his arms wildly in front of him. The pint-size ruler of the Spirit World was in his teenage form, but was nearly losing the concentration required, "Why haven't you check in before now!"  
"Yeah, I was a little busy trying to avoid the people who want to kill me!" Yusuke countered, glaring at his nominal boss from his reclined chair in Genkai's temple. It was fairly rare for Koenma to travel outside the spirit world, so Yusuke had figured he was about to get brow beaten for something or other.  
"We've got massive problems, and you can't even be bothered to drop us a line!" Koenma went on, as if Yusuke hadn't spoken, "Whenever there's trouble that the BEST time to call in!"  
"Well sorry, I do prefer to dodge rather then go digging for my pocket communicator, I have no idea why."  
"Look, Yusuke, we've got problems." Koenma said flatly, collapsing into his seat and turning to face the Spirit Detective, "We think the same people that have going after you have been hijacking some of the other demons in the area. Thanks to the equipment you turned in, we now know how they're doing it, though we still don't know why."  
"Wait, they're going after other people, exactly who did they nab?" Yusuke pressed curiously. Koenma sighed, and took a deep breath.  
"Chu, Rinku, Touya, and Jin." He listed, "Shishi Wakamaru, Bui, and the Freed Itchigaki members."  
Yusuke blinked in amazement.  
"These people, whoever they are, are not amateurs, Yusuke." Koenma continued, "You and your friend came very close to get kidnapped yourself. The handcuffs they were carrying, in someway, force a person to contain their spirit energy within. I gather that this technology is what made the men that attacked you immune to your powers; they simply could not operate close enough to their bodies. Using this surprise, a quick drug shot and most of the demons were down."  
"Why?" Was all Yusuke could think to ask.  
"How the hell should I know?" Koenma barked, "But if you don't want whatever their objective is completed, find out, Spirit Detective!"  
  
***  
  
Suzaku was angry, and that wasn't his usual attitude, which only annoyed him further. He stalked down the street, dimly noticing parents pulling small children out of his path as he strode. Probably not a bad idea, as Suzaku was highly tempted to destroy them before their humanity infected him any further. He'd come to gain power, not to become entangled in their life like this. He was a demon, damn it, and demons were powerful. Demons were impartial. Demons were rulers.  
But Kurama would not love a demon.  
Sick at heart, Suzaku slipped into an alley and sat against the wall, pressing the back of his head against the smooth stone. He'd been dancing around that ever since he'd arrived here, but he knew he could do so no longer. It was Kurama that inspired him to try the human route, and it was now Kurama that had entangled him here. But Kurama already loved, he loved the short fire demon that had begun to unbend from demonic actions in the way Suzaku could not.  
He could delay no longer. It was time to do what he had come here to do, before the world threw heavier chains around him and he was unable to escape at all. His eyes were dry as he stood, and his mind was focused.  
Time to achieve his dreams.  
  
***  
  
Koenma and Yusuke were still trading insults with the blue skinned Ogre burst into the audience chamber. Koenma's eyes turned to the interruption with the promise of a fresh rant, but paused at the frantic look in the Apparition's eyes. Panting with exhaustion, the Ogre inclined his head slightly and reported,  
"The vaults, Sir!" He half yelled, "They've been broken into! Someone made off with one of the items!"  
"Which one of them!" Koenma demanded, coming to his feet and suddenly much shorter when his disguise slipped in his horror, "Which one did they take?"  
"Sir! The Forlorn Hope is missing!"  
"You idiot!" Koenma shouted, sitting back in his chair, and looking highly perturbed. "You got me all worked up for nothing! The Mirror is cracked, it would take double the energy to power a wish. The thief would have to have two lives just to make a wish at all!"  
"No." Yusuke said quietly, his voice deadly calm, "He doesn't have two, he has seven."  
Their eyes met for a split second, and they both said in unison.  
  
"Suzaku." 


	14. Chapter 11: Wishes on the Wind

Chapter 11: Wishes on the Wind  
  
"You're looking a little disturbed." A voice said from behind him, and Peterson jumped a half-foot into the air before spinning around so fast his polished uniform rustled loudly over the hum of computer, "Find something I should know about?"  
"Damnit Matthews!" Peterson gasped, holding a hand over his chest, "You scared the hell out of me, Sir."  
"Your pardons," Matthews smiled without an inch of sincerity, "Found something interesting, did you?"  
"You could say that." The tech replied, shrugging his coat off his shoulders and hanging it on the back of the office chair, "We've got problems."  
"Problems?"  
"A good amount of our ready made serums are missing from the vault." Peterson said gravely, glancing over his shoulder at the calm aide, "At least two or three from each subject. I think they've been stolen."  
"Stolen?" Matthews pressed noncommittally, "Do you know who did it?"  
"He was very careful." Peterson told the blue-eyed strategist, "He managed to shut off all the camera and motion sensors in that area before making his move. Near as I've been able to determine, this has been going on for a while, and he's never made a mistake."  
"Unfortunate." Matthews told him flatly, "Keep digging, and tell me if you fin-"  
"Except once." The Tech cut him off intently, "Just once, he left a camera on."  
For a long moment, neither man moved. Reflexively, the aide ran his fingers down the arm of his coat, smoothing out the wrinkles. The silence stretched on continually, and Matthews shrugged out of his coat entirely, hanging it on another chair. Without warning, Peterson slammed his hands down on the desk hard enough to make the keyboard rattle against the wood.  
"Damnit Sir, Those serums are dangerous!" He raged, "Our best men haven't taken an eighth of what you've stolen, and they're already showing signs! You can't handle that much!"  
"On the contrary, I know of a way to contain it." That caught Peterson off guard, as Matthews flipped a computer disk out of his back pocket, and then slide it into the computer drive, "Call up the file on that, and I'll show you."  
Nodding slowly, Peterson worked the keyboard and slide through the lines of code to the file itself. He did not notice the cold aide's hands sliding down the back of his chair, nor did he see those hands disappear into Peterson's coat and come up with the seldom used, but none the less issued, sidearm. As Peterson's eyes read the first line of text, 'Oh, Cruel World', he felt the barrel of the gun pressed against his temple and saw Matthews' gloved fingers at the trigger.  
"Such a shame you've been so depressed lately." The aide smiled thinly, eyes as calm as ever, "Goodbye Peterson."  
"You won't get away with this." The tech blustered, "I've sent everything I know to one of my friends, and if I don't check in.."  
"I'll deal with that when it comes to it."  
The keyboard and monitor was top of the line, with every bell and whistle imaginable on it. As the crimson blood spread jagged lines across their surfaces, both continued to function as they were supposed to. The organization had, of course, spared no expense.  
No expense at all.  
  
***  
  
"I knew it!" Hiei burst out, slamming his hands down on the table, sending a small shower of forks and spoons sliding toward the now inclined center, "I knew we were fools to trust in him! This is what he was after all along."  
"I concur." Kurama added calmly, "He knew that security around the Forlorn Hope would be minimal. The mirror, in its current state, would be completely useless to anyone but him. None of us foresaw the possibility of a demon with multiple lives; it's really very clever."  
"How long do we have until a full moon?" Kuwabara asked worriedly, idly chipping off bits of a plastic cup.  
"Tonight." Kurama informed his gravely, "As I mentioned, it's very clever. You'll notice he waited until Winter solstice as well."  
"Longest night of the year." Yusuke groaned, "Well isn't that just perfect?"  
"Indeed so." The Kitsune put in, "You have to admire the planning that went into this. It's clear this is what was intended, from the very beginning. The sun sets in a half hour, but the moon won't be sufficiently bright until another half hour after that. We have that long to find him."  
"That would be like looking for a needle in a haystack." Kuwabara grumbled, "How are supposed to find him when he can be anywhere in this city?"  
"That's assuming he IS in this city." Hiei added sourly, "Were he smart, and he seems to be, he'd be making his wish from as far away from us as is possible."  
"No."  
The demon and two full humans turned back to the fox spirit wearing identical expressions of confusion. Cutting off their questions, Kurama sighed at them, waving his hands in exasperation.  
"I don't know how I know." He said, glancing at the floor, "But I know he's in this city. More then that, he knows that we're going to find him, because there's only one place he would try this."  
"And where's that?"  
"The one place in this city where the meridian lines cross, and would increase the power of the wish that much more." Kurama said slowly, "Any demon would careful when making a wish as powerful as what he, or I, conceived. And, just like me, he would use it in the one place he could be assured of it working."  
Walking to the window, his red hair shining in the sunlight, he pointed toward the tall building, shining in the center of town. His eyes clouded with memory, he turned back to them.  
"The hospital."  
  
***  
  
Suzaku watched the sunset, fascinated with the aerial display of light and fire that the human kind regarded has routine. Cradling the precious artifact in his palm, Suzaku idly traced his thumb over the shattered edges of the mirror. In a way he knew is symbolized himself; broken, defeated, and useless, but nonetheless capable of succeeding beyond anyone's wildest dreams in the right situation.  
"Brother." Two said respectfully, pulling Suzaku from his thoughts, "They're on their way here."  
"We knew they would be." Suzaku sighed, glancing up at the sky for a long set of heartbeats, "They do not understand that which we do. You understand what's at stake, and what we need to do. Take all but Five and Seven, and do what must be done."  
"Will do." The military straight duplicate inclined his head politely, and turns on his heels toward the others.  
"Wait." Suzaku waved over his shoulder, and the clone born of magic glanced back at him, "Try not to hurt them too much."  
"Of course." Two bowed respectfully, "We're part of you after all."  
"That's what I worry about."  
  
***  
  
A battle plan had been devised, energy had been gathered and Yusuke looked up at the hospital as the building caught the last glimmers of the setting sun. A buzz of energy as Kuwabara's spirit sword blazed into existence, a solid thump as Kurama's rose whip coiled behind his feet, and a scrape of metal on leather as Hiei's sword came out. Meeting their eyes one at a time, Yusuke knew they were ready.  
"I wonder where all the people are tonight." Yusuke observed curiously. It was late, true, but the lights were off throughout the hospital, and they hadn't seen one single person on the way.  
"Good question." Kurama wondered aloud, "Perhaps he's using some power we're not usually familiar with, to keep the weaker humans away?"  
"That doesn't make any sense." Hiei countered grimly, "If it was then the lump would have found an excuse to leave."  
"Can it, shorty!"  
"Shall we knock?" Yusuke asked flippantly.  
"I don't think that'll be needed." Kurama noticed sardonically as the sliding glass doors opened. Four darkly shaped people stepped out onto the concrete, spreading out as they did so to give the others room to maneuver. As they stepped into the light, four sets of purple eyes met theirs opponents.  
"Yusuke." The first said, with what sounded like genuine regret in his voice. His voice was light, but the air literally crackled with energy between the two parties. Either would start the fight at a moments notice.  
"Clone." Yusuke replied, inclining his head in return. Stepping off to the left, Kurama spoke next.  
"Why this Suzaku?" he asked, "This is too much for you, surely you know that. Why betray us all for the sake of power."  
"You don't understand. This isn't about power."  
"Then what is it about?"  
"Sorry." Yusuke interrupted, "But we don't have time for the speeches right now. You'll forgive us if we skip the pleasantries."  
"Of course." Suzaku nodded slowly, his left food sliding behind his right as he dropped into a combat stance. The others around him followed suit, their eyes crackling with orange energy.  
"And you'll forgive me, I hope." Hiei sighed, "If I skip this entirely. The best way to kill a snake is to cut of its head, after all." The short demon blurred as he leapt up the side of the building onto the roof, where they knew the original Suzaku would be. One of the clones started to cry out in protest, but the first one cut him off,  
"They can take care of themselves!" He barked, "Let's finish this here!"  
"Eat this, you bastard!" Yusuke screamed, pulling his fingers up as he called the Spirit Gun. The Suzakus blurred, the energy crackled, the rose whip snapped, and the fight was on.  
  
***  
  
"Did you really think you were going to get away with this?" A voice said from behind him, and Suzaku glanced over his shoulder at the black-haired Hiei, "Or is this just to keep you entertained."  
"I wouldn't expect you to abandon your fellows." Suzaku noted clinically, as if lecturing on a boring section of Japanese history. This was difficult, as the demon's katana was sharp and Suzaku knew, quite well, how skilled he was with it. The presence of two of his clones behind the demon helped some, however.  
"They'll manage." Hiei explained shortly, "So I thought I'd just take care of the ones hiding up here and see who finished first."  
"Take care of us?" Suzaku asked incredulously, "I think you underestimate us."  
"Of you overestimate yourself."  
"We'll see."  
With a harsh battle cry, Hiei threw away his scabbard and charged.  
  
***  
  
Yusuke cursed under his breath as he bounced on his hand, flipped, and landed on his feet again. Brushing blood off the side of his mouth with the back of his hand, he straightened up again. He was sure that, in a stand up fight, he could have beaten these Suzakus, but that wasn't the way things turned out. The clones were double teaming any aggressor, forcing them back away from the door. Once this was done, they were not pressing their luck but rather stepping back to wait.  
"They're stalling us!" Kurama agreed, swing his whip forward and entangling one of them, then forced back by two of the others, "They can keep this up for too long!"  
"Damnit, get out of my way!" Kuwabara said, swinging a sword in each hand, sending sparks off the clone's fist. As the first started to weaken, a second stepped up and sent the youth flying backward with an electrical punch to the chest. Skidding to a halt, Kuwabara growled with feeling, and Yusuke heartily agreed. A tremor ran through the ground as the top of the building crackled with energy.  
"Try and block this one!" Yusuke yelled, his fingers pointed as the Spirit Gun gathered on the end. Instead of stopping where he normally did, Yusuke kept pulling power, putting all three bullets into the blazing energy he controlled. The streets shinned with blue light as his power gathered together, and it reflected off the clones' eyes. A brief glance at each other, and the four Suzakus scattered away from the blast zone.  
Which is exactly what Yusuke wanted, "Now!"  
Letting the energy die, Yusuke sprinted full tilt at the doors. Putting his shoulder into the blow, the glass shattered across the reception area. Kurama and Kuwabara, the latter barely missing a reflexive shot of energy from the deceived demons.  
"Sword, get longer!" Kuwabara ordered, and his blaze of yellow energy extended several feet out the hole Yusuke had created. A startled oath from outside, and the doorway was effectively blocked, "Go on, I'll hold them off here."  
"Be careful, Kuwabara."  
"Just don't keep me waiting too long!"  
  
***  
  
The demon was fast, there was no question about that. The katana arced and flashed like a living fire, and it took all of Suzaku's energy to keep himself one step ahead of the blade. The two demons blurred, appearing only momentarily for a single moment of vision. A missed sword stroke, a barely parried counter attack, a dodged ball of orange energy from one of the clones, all rolled into a battle for existence between forces that would not, could not, surrender.  
Suzaku knew he had to do something, and quickly. Bit by bit, inch by inch, he was losing fractions of second between his dodging and the sword stroke. The speed was already too fast for him to think about a counter-attack, and the Fire Apparition was only getting faster. He had to find a maneuver, something that the logical demon would not expect. Something to catch him off guard. And with a burst of insight, he knew what to do.  
Reaching up with both hands, Suzaku caught the sword. The sharp bladed hand bit deeply into his palm and fingers, and he felt the warm blood running down his arm. Involuntarily, he grunted with pain, and Hiei smirked as he pressed down on the blade, forcing the other demon to his knees. The smirk faded as Suzaku's hands gripper tighter on the blade, slicing even more of his fingers. A crack of thunder above them, and Hiei's eyes lit with comprehension. With a desperate effort, he pulled on the sword, sending a semi circle of blood over the concrete, but Suzaku caught the edge tightly between his bloody fingers.  
The clouds cracked again, and a fork of lightning blazed forth from nothing, screamed down to the roof, past momentarily through the caller's body, traveled through the sword, and into Hiei. The dark-haired Yokai screamed automatically as his body was enveloped in electricity, stumbling back a few steps. Before he could recover, two blurs resolved themselves into the forgotten clones. The first, sideways in midair, kicked hard at Hiei's head, folding the short demon over the foot drilling into his stomach from front. Abruptly laying on the rooftop, still twitching from the shock therapy, Hiei only dimly felt the twin punches that send him sprawling against the floor several yards over.  
Holding his bloody hands together, his face lit with rapture, Suzaku pulled the Forlorn Hope from his robe, and the little mirror shown with white energy as it caught the moonlight. Turning to the full moon in the sky, Suzaku pulled immense power of the artifact to himself. It was time.  
"Grant now my deepest wish!" He shouted at the sky, "Give me now what I wish for, Forlorn Hope. Take my lives and grant my wish!"  
Yusuke hit the door to the roof with his shoulder so hard that the wooden frame splintered and came off its hinges. Squinting his eyes against the blazing energy, the Spirit Detective's throat was suddenly tight with disbelief. Kurama skidded to a halt behind him, and the youth could only whisper.  
"We're too late." 


	15. Chapter 12: Humanity

Chapter 12: Humanity  
  
Sweat ran off of Ama's brow as he considered his options. One false move here could send his whole program into complete disarray, and a bad enough mistake could cost him the whole bit. He'd come this far only with ingenuity, patience, and knowledge, and he wasn't about to allow the last play to be his undoing. He straightened his glasses slowly, considering his limited reactions once move in his mind.  
"You going to play, or do you just like to hold them?"  
"Oh, be quiet." Ama snapped, placing his cards down carefully, "Backyard Dummy and Alley Fight doubles you, I believe." Klick winced deeply, twisting his character around backward. Pushing his blue hair out of his face, the other computer youth sighed deeply.  
"You'd better hope I don't draw what I need this turn."  
"I don't believe in miracles."  
"A miracle would be you getting a date."  
"Look who's talking."  
"Hey, Hey! I think I have something!" Kaze called over his shoulder, and the cards were instantly abandoned at the table. Sliding into the leather swivel chair he called his own, Ama peered over his partner's shoulder at the screen of scrolling data.  
"You got in?" He asked in astonishment, "How, exactly?" For the past few days, all three members of Asterisk had been trying every trick they could think of, and some that had made up for this occasion particularly, and none of the three had been able to get past the Watchdog program that guarded the place. For a small military project to have as much computer defense on its files as the nuclear missile silos piqued the trios curiosity to no end, but they had been just about ready to throw in the towel.  
"You really won't believe this." Kaze stated, stretching back in his chair and flashing the 'I win' smile of his, "I piggybacked a SITREP from the sentinels and slid right through the defense into the communications. From there-."  
"Piece of cake." Ama finished, his brow furrowing as alarm bells went off in the back of his mind, "Are you telling me that this system can take everything that we can throw at it, but they didn't stop a piggyback?"  
"Maybe they took it down for maintenance?" Klick suggested dubiously, but the sour look on his face showed that he didn't buy that anymore then the other two.  
"Zero that." Ama disagreed, "Military SOP is to disconnect from the lines before taking a security system apart, and it's too dangerous otherwise."  
"Human error?" Kaze suggested weakly, and then held up his hand to forestall argument, "No, don't bother with a comeback. I know we'll never know the 'how' of it, but the point is that we're in."  
"Did you run the-."  
"Of COURSE I ran the trace scan." Kaze sighed, as he rolled his eyes long-sufferingly, "Three times. Negative. They made a mistake is all."  
"Well, copy it all to CD and get out of there, every second after- ."  
"Is a second too long, we know." Klick and Kaze sighed.  
  
***  
  
Birds were chirping.  
Though his eyes felt more like piles of glue then optical sensor, Hiei forced them open slowly. Light stabbed into stabbed into his orbs deeply, and he fought momentarily with the sheets to raise a hand to cover them. After a moment to adjust, he gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position, and held his hand to his temple.  
"You're finally up." Kurama remarked, rubbing the stiffness out of his joints as he noticed Hiei's movement. Settling back again, he nearly masked his worry, "How do you feel?"  
"I've felt better." Hiei commented wryly, going through his own version of a power-up checklist. His sword was against the wall across from him, polished to a shine, and his energy seemed to be fully recovered. Despite that, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very very strange. "Where are we?"  
"Genkai's temple." The Kitsune responded, relaxing visibly as he was apparently convinced that the other would not die, "It was closer then our apartment, and I felt it better to start the healing quickly."  
"What about Suzaku?" Hiei demanded, as the memories rushed into his head in flurry of visions and sound, "Did we stop him? Where is he? What happened?" For a long moment, Kurama said nothing, and instead studied the floor reflectively. Bringing himself to his feet, the Fox Spirit stepped over to the window and leaned against the sill, still warm with the late morning sunshine. Hiei's anxiety went up a few notches, and he had to drag it back down forcefully. He was very familiar with Kurama's motions when there was something he didn't wish to talk about.  
"We didn't stop him." Kurama told him gravely, "He got his wish. Nearly killed himself to do it, but he got what he wished for, it just isn't what he thought."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"It's funny." Kurama reflected quietly, "He thought he was wishing for ultimate power, the same that we did. But that isn't what he asked the mirror; he asked the mirror to grant his deepest desire. Perhaps we are the least likely people to know what our own desires are."  
"What did he do?" Hiei pressed quickly, standing up quickly and nearly strangling the demon "What was the wish?"  
"In his heart, or whatever counts as that for demons, he still wished to understand humanity, and attain a human's advantage." Kurama lectured softly, "To that end, the Forlorn Hope fulfilled that wish in the easiest possible fashion. It made him a human."  
"Made him human." Hiei repeated unbelievingly, sitting back down on the edge of the bed, "I see. I did not think such a thing was possible, but it is fortunate that is all it did."  
"Not quite." Kurama stirred uncomfortably, glancing at the ceiling, "Again, our estimations of what would happen turned out to be incorrect. Specifically, we under estimated the Forlorn Hope."  
"How so?"  
"We assumed that Suzaku could power the device and continue making wished by switching between his clones. What we did not realize is that, with the Forlorn Hope locked on to that specific Suzaku's energy, it would follow him through the jumps. It killed each of the clones attempting to absorb the life energy from each stage of progression, but the artifact is not meant to hold that much energy. It used some granting the wish, used some another way, and finally detonated with the excess. Suzaku was nearly permanently killed for his confidence."  
"What else did it do?" The black-haired Yokai demanded, "Damn it, Kurama, don't keep staring at the floor, just tell me what happened!"  
"It tried to grant the wish again." Kurama stated detachedly, "It did not understand why so much of its energy would be left after granting the wish. Since Suzaku was already changed, it sought out the closest pure demon with a reason for humanity, the only one that could not defend itself."  
"You're not a demon anymore, Hiei.."  
  
***  
  
"My God."  
Ama wasn't sure which one of them said it, but it was certainly appropriate. Scrubbing through the stolen records, they had found file after file of the actions going on at that base, just like Peterson had told them they would. They knew he'd been eliminated by an 'unfortunate suicide'.  
"Well, that explains some things, I guess." Kaze put in, but only the break the silence.  
"Explains a lot of things, where did Klick go?"  
"Check the mail, I believe."  
"Well, he'll definitely want to-."  
The gunfire came without any warning at all. One minute, the half empty warehouse was alive only with the buzz of computer. The next, the two hackers were scrambling over their chairs as the flying slugs knocked holes in the wall and sent sparks off the ceiling. A large collection of computer monitors shattered in the hail and a wire half came loose from the ceiling and sparked dangerously.  
"Frag it!" Ama cursed over the noise as the gunfire slowed to a halt. The next voice was on an intercom, and quite calm, of course, without anybody shooting at HIM.  
"Attention terrorists!" The voice announced harshly, "You have sixty second to remove yourselves from the buildings, and surrender. If you do not comply, or resist us, you will be fired upon. This is a warning, and I repeat, if you do not comply, you will be fired upon!"  
"As if!" Kaze hissed, and Ama had to agree. Moving with a speed he'd not attained since gym class, Ama grabbed the piles of disks on the table and Kaze started tapping away at the keyboard, starting their emergency exiting program. The first, he knew, would start erasing everything on the hard drives. No, not just erase. Overwrite with zeroes, then overwrite with ones, then overwrite with zeroes again. Aside from the destruction program, they would find nothing useful on the drives. The second, however.  
Gunfire erupted, but this time Ama welcoming it. After all, it was coming from inside the where house and shooting outward. The computerized weapons had no tracking system whatsoever, but it would certainly buy them some time. Pulling at a chain on the floor, Ama revealed the poorly lit staircase underneath. Once used the smuggle grain in from the harbor, the passage had greatly increased in value once the bullets start to fly.  
"Ama.What about Klick?" Kaze asked, as he shined his flashlight down the tunnel.  
"Nothing we can do about it now."  
"They'll kill him you know."  
Ama swallowed with difficulty, "I know." 


	16. Author's Note: More Madness

Author's note 2: More Madness  
  
Hey everybody! It's me again! Just dropping you a line to let you know how much I appreciate you all hanging on my words and encouraging me to finish this work! Merci! Arigato! Thank you! Whatever language suits you best.  
Anywho, short note today. Just letting you know that I appreciate speaking to my fans (if I had any ^.^) and am often on AIM on the name AmakazeHakudou! So drop me a line, or you can email me at Pulser_Aynasa@Hotmail.com!  
  
Nazi Nani Shards of the Past!  
  
Q: AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Hiei human what?  
  
A: Calm down, and look at it from my angle. A) It's never been done before (that I know of) B) It solved some physical problems (Do demons have spleens?) C) It helps out the relationship bits. Now, try to breath ;), I'll be good, I promise!  
  
Q: Who the heck is Matthews? Who the heck is Avery! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?  
  
A: Well, you haven't been told yet, but you can figure it out, particularly with the last chapter. Otherwise, all you need to know is that they're mean ^.^  
  
Anywho, today's author lesson is entitled: Combat is hard!  
  
As the name implies, combat is VERY hard to write! If you take too long, it's overly complicated and slow. Not enough time, and it doesn't sound write at all. I don't know how to solve this problem, but I do have two tips for upcoming writers.  
First, plan for this. Fighting should rarely, if ever, be the focus of a scene. In fact, if possible, try to minimize the presence of direct hand-to-hand fighting as much as possible, your writing ability will thank you for it.  
Second, DBZ and YYH writers I'm looking at you, shouting attack names does not work in text. I KNOW they do it on the show, but in the show it feels right. Having Kurama shout "Rose Whip" instead of describing the attack comes across as very very juvenile.  
Well, it was a short note, but the bells ringing, and I gotta run! BBYE! 


	17. Chapter 13: Trials and Tribulations Yaoi

Chapter 14: Trials and Tribulations  
  
Suzaku's legs were trembling badly.  
This was not entirely unexpected, as it was an effort nearly beyond his strength to simply remain on his feet. His hands were laid out flat on the podium in front of him in an attempt to avoid toppling ingloriously onto the floor. But that was not, primarily, the reason his legs shook. Standing there, under the spotlight, and captured by those who held his fate in his hands, the humanized demon was afraid.  
"Suzaku, former leader of the Saint Beasts, ruler of Maze Castle, and newly returned to life, you stand accused of Theft of a Royal Artifact. You stand accused of Breaking and Entering into the palace of the Spirit World. You stand accused of illegally crossing over the barrier into the human world. You stand accused of resisting arrest by the spirit detective of earth. You stand accused of reckless endangerment of humans. You stand accused of Treason against our world." Koenma's disguised face met with Suzaku wide purple orbs detachedly, and the Ruler of the Spirit World shifted his pacifier to the other side of his mouth. "In these crimes, most of which are punishable for complete destruction or exile on their own, how do you plead?"  
"Guilty, Spirit Ruler." Suzaku bowed his head slightly in acceptance, and instantly regretted it. The slight redistribution of weight nearly brought his weakened body crashing to the ground again, and he struggled to raise his eyes to the ruler once more. Behind him, amidst the throng of ogres that had come to watch the spectacle, Yusuke and Genkai sat awaiting the verdict. Nearly coming to his feet after the list of crimes, Yusuke had been restrained only by his mentor's hand on his arm, and a whispered comment. Unfortunately, Suzaku was not close enough to hear what was said unaugmented, and he didn't have remotely enough spirit energy to waste on doing so.  
"Very well. We will review your record and be prepared to make a judgment within a few minutes. You may be seated."  
Suzaku collapsed bonelessly into the chair.  
  
***  
  
"Take it easy, Hiei." Kurama cautioned gently, "Breathe." The object of his gentle words was currently on his knees near the bed, and very close to hyperventilating. The demon's breathing was irregular and ragged, and his eyes were not seeing any world that they lived in. Kurama patted Hiei's back encouragingly, biting his lip with suppressed concern.  
"I can't..He can't of.it can't." Hiei gasped, his fingers curling tightly around the strands of carpet under him. His mind reeled like a drunken sailor, unwilling to come to terms with the events transpired while he slept. Unwilling, and perhaps unable, "I can not be.Can not be."  
"Human?" Kurama intoned softly, his voice a soothing balm for the soul, "Why do you reject this?"  
"I am not one of them!" Hiei barked clearly, then spent several moments sucking in air again, his face nearly as red as Kurama's hair, "I..I am not one..of them."  
"Hiei, Hiei, Hiei." Kurama chided softly, wrapping his long, slender arm around the yokai's shaking shoulders, "You are Hiei. What you are, what your identity is, is not within your form, it is within your soul. Your shell does not matter in this."  
"Demons don't have souls!"  
"Don't they?"  
"I don't."  
"Are you certain?" Kurama countered quietly, but firmly, "Don't you see Hiei, that is what Suzaku sought within himself. That is why humanity can trust, can live," Kurama's gentle fingers encircled Hiei's, pulling them softly from the carpet, "And can love. You have experienced some of this; because of you have been developing a soul within the spirit world. Only a soul can allow you to love, Hiei."  
"A soul." Hiei repeated dully, his mind picking up the idea and turning it around slowly in his head, "I thought..I thought I knew love..I thought it could never entrap me, once I knew it."  
"You must let go of your past, Hiei." The Kistune continued, "Let the betrayals go. I am not your people, I am not an ex-partner, I am not your instincts, or your abilities. I will not destroy your trust.."  
"You are now human. You have a soul, let it out. Trust in me, for I know what you are feeling. Unleash your soul, trust in me, love." Tentatively, the blue-black haired human extended his arms around the other body. Resting his forehead against the other's shoulders, his voice was a mere whisper against the air.  
"I trust in you, Kurama.." The fox spirit hands slide upward, caressing the black hair as one would comfort a child.  
"As I trust in you, Hiei, and that will never change."  
"..I know.."  
  
***  
  
"He looks so weak." Yusuke whispered quietly to his mentor, and she nodded her assent. The object of their discussion sat within the confines of waist high stand that was the defendant's box. Suzaku's head was bowed over so far as to be close to touching his forehead to the smooth wood of the podium. Yusuke's presence was, theoretically, to prevent any violence on the part of their captive, but it looked like there was no fight left in the former demon.  
"That stunt with the artifact nearly annihilated him." Genkai said gravely, watching the defeated demon carefully for any sign of deception, "His life force was nearly sucked out of him, and he's being forced to assume a human body for the first time. I doubt you, dimwit, would fare much better in his shoes."  
"I suppose you're right.." Yusuke grumbled, "I'm just not used to seeing him look so defeated."  
"Suzaku, Saint Beast, you will rise and hear your verdict." Koenma announced finally, after a brief discussion with a pair of blue skinned ogres and a trio of well dressed human looking types. Suzaku stood to his feet, and extended his limbs in the same fashion a heavy flag unfurls on a rainy day. His head lifted, albeit slowly, to raise his eyes to his fate.  
"After some deliberation, this court has reached an agreement about your punishment." Koenma intoned, "The dictates of this court are not open to appeal, and will be followed by all parties involved, do you understand this."  
Slowly, Suzaku nodded his assent, nearly loosing his balance as his legs began to tremble again.  
-Koenma will come up with something.- Yusuke thought certainly, -He won't punish someone when it worked out like this.-  
"On all charges accredited to you, we find the apparition guilty." Koenma announced flatly, "We sentence the demon, Suzaku, to immediate, and permanent, destruction, to be carried out immediately."  
"What!" Yusuke demanded angrily, jumping to his feet and startling the spectators near him, "You can't be serious!"  
"I am very serious." Koenma stated quietly, "The decrees of this court are unalterable."  
No longer able to remain on his feet, Suzaku collapsed onto one knee, as the uniformed ogres stepped over to his booth. The decrees of the court were, as Koenma had stated, unalterable.  
  
***  
  
Kurama bent slightly as he laid Hiei out over the bed again, his touch a ghost's gentle caress against the skin. In normal cases, Hiei would have protested at being treated in such a way. Even weakened, he was perfectly capable of moving on his own, and could likely have carried a trio of Kuramas just as easily. But Hiei did not object, and Kurama's fingers skillfully separated the Yokai from his cloak, exposing the former demon's well-muscled torso. Lying sideways on the bed, Kurama leaned over to nibble softly on the other's neck, smiling at the half uttered sounds from the apparition as he tilted his head welcomingly.  
Emboldened by the partially accepted passions within him, Hiei caught Kurama's face between his hands gently, and guided it upward. Emerald-green eyes met soft read, and Hiei's lips brushed against his confidant paramour's, savoring the taste of rose petal and the hint of lilac. The Kitsune's hand spread flatly over Hiei's chest, smiling at the heat as the yokai's inner fire increased. Shifting his slender fingers carefully, Kurama's hand explored the lines of Hiei's stomach, and then slipped under the waist band of Hiei's pants. The former fire apparition stiffened with surprise, his red eyes opened wide with chagrin.  
"Kurama!" He gasped breathlessly, breaking the tender kiss with reluctance, "Are..Are you sure that..?" Kurama's hand paused in its work, and the other brushed against Hiei's shaking lips lovingly.  
"Surely you aren't worried about something you've already done?"  
"It's..different now..I'm.."  
"Shhh..Trust me, Hiei.." Kurama's hands pushed down the waistband and, this time, the other did not object. Encircling Hiei's heat with his fingers, Kurama mouth quirked into a smile as the smaller apparition's body warmed enthusiastically. Hiei's head went back as Kurama's hand began to move skillfully, increasing their pace slowly, and a moan escaped the yokai's lips. Kurama leaned again, and paused for a moment. Oddly forlorn, Hiei was about to ask the reason when he felt something was definitely not a hand on his member.  
Deep within him, he felt a part of himself come alive, like waking after a deep sleep. His passions grew, flooded, and pushed against the walls he had constructed through years of pain and sorrow. In the face of emotions, the walls began to bend.  
-Kurama-..A crack in the dam, the stone began to crumble around the breach, releasing his self into full play. Entwining his hands into the sheet, the last of Hiei the demon crumbled into fragments swept away in the flood.  
"Kurama!"  
  
***  
  
"The court's mandate has been carried out." The ogre announced, and Suzaku peeked out of one eye in confusion. He certainly felt tired, but certainly not destroyed. Koenma, however, showed a brief hint of a smile that was quickly smothered.  
"I see that it is so. The demon Suzaku has been destroyed." Koenma announced grandly, "The punishment has been served."  
"I.I am still here." Suzaku said, his voice shaky with confusion, and Koenma turned to him with a quirked brow, "I..I still exist."  
"You are human now, are you not?" Koenma demanded officially.  
"I.I am.."  
"Well then, the demon Suzaku," Koenma began, stressing the 'demon', "has been removed from this existence, for his crimes. No demon would willingly convert himself to a human, therefore, I must assume that you are not a demon. You, therefore, will be added to Urameshi's detective team, until such time as you choose to leave." For a long moment the former Saint Beast was speechless. Then, he began to laugh, partially with understanding, and partially with simple bottled up tension.  
"You are more devious then I gave you credit for, Sir." Suzaku chuckled, and Koenma gave him a sly wink. As the crowd began to break up, Yusuke slapped Suzaku on the back with a bright smile, nearly knocking the other over.  
"So, Staying with us for a while?" The youth grinned. Suzaku smiled slightly himself, glancing first at the ceiling, and then back at the two true humans.  
"Yes, I believe I will."  
  
***  
  
Kurama, still in pinkish red jumpsuit, idly traced the muscles of Hiei's abdomen as the other lay curled up at his side. Hiei suffered a moment's guilt for not thinking to give the other his pleasure, but made no move. There would be other moments, he now was certain, because Kurama was not going anywhere. Stretching out languidly, the former fire demon settled into a more comfortable position against the other.  
Besides, from the silly grin on Kurama's face, he knew the other had found more pleasure in the encounter then mere physicals. Yawning briefly, Hiei reflected that, tomorrow, they would likely resume the fight against their enemies.  
But that was tomorrow. 


	18. Happy Thanksgiving!

Author's Bit: Turkey Day Massacre  
  
Well, I wrote a Thanksgiving episode, then realized it sucked and coped out by talking to you directly ^.^;, maybe I'll post it as a long lost episode at some point. Anywho, happy turkey day, everybody, and particular thanks to my biggest fans out there: Morghann, Forsaken-in-death, and Saria19!  
  
Also, I need a quick poll! 1) Is there anything you think could be done better about this fic? 2) Anything I AM doing you don't want me to do and 3) Should Kayko remain alive (IE Yusuke is taken) or would you prefer him to start looking? Please, write me at Pulser_Aynasa@Hotmail.com!  
  
Happy turkey day! 


	19. Chapter 14: The Art of Engagement

Chapter 14: The Art of Engagement  
  
Matthews pretended to study the papers held in his hands, but in reality his attention was elsewhere. The youth before him resettled his glasses on his face, and leaned back in the leather swivel chair with the bored, detached slouch that came instinctively to those who related better to their computer than their superiors. Matthews' eyes scanned the paper in front of him as he considered what he knew about the other. Flawless track record on paper without a single demerit or complaint lodged against him, save one or two of the obligatory drunk and disorderlys that followed the profession.  
"It says here that you requested this transfer specifically?" The aide asked, shuffling the papers around the desk, "Any reason why?"  
"It sounded like the place things are really happening." The computer tech said, rolling a pair of shiny silver ball bearings in his right hand nervously, "Seemed as good a reason as any, I'd say."  
"I suppose you might be correct in that." Matthews commented, vaguely taken aback by the others comments, "But I'm afraid we've yet to have any breakthrough in any of our researches."  
"Your modesty hardly keeps up with your successes." The other replied as the two balls clacked together as he rolled them around his fingers, "What you should be modest about is your computer system. It has a hole big enough for every hacker, coder, and school boy to find out about your advancements whenever they'd like, Sir." The youth smiled disarmingly, "I'll admit, your security may be a bit lacking, but the projects themselves are mind boggling. Even.say.spiritual?" For a long while, Matthews said nothing. Then, as if some hidden test had been completed, the cold eyed aide smile thinly and leaned forward.  
"You're that good, are you?"  
"Better."  
"I believe you." The aide nodded, and then scribbled his initials on the form in front of him, "I'm authorizing your transfer to us, so you'll be start-." Without warning, the intercom squawked on the desk and the Computer Tech dropped one of the balls in surprise.  
"Sir?" The speaker crackled, "We've gotten a positive identity on one of the people you asked us to watch out for."  
"Excellent." Matthews said to the open air, "Dispatch Skull, and I'll be up shortly." The aide reached over and turned off the comm, then handed the youth back the decorated ball bearing.  
"Well, I look forward to working with you..What was your name again?"  
"Ama, Sir."  
"Ah, that's right. Welcome to the team, Ama."  
  
***  
  
"I still don't see what the big deal would have been." Suzaku grumbled quietly, "We could have just played it off as an accident, you know. Those sorts of things happen."  
"Much as I would have liked to see him being electrocuted, shocking the hell out of some punk kid is a little suspicious." Yusuke told him testily, "You're lucky we happened to be there. Normal students don't go around summoning lightening onto their fingertips."  
"You say this as if your own method of dealing with the problem was much more reasonable." Kurama pointed out, walking slightly ahead of group and keeping his hands tucked into his jumpsuit.  
"Hey, at least mine is more commonplace." Yusuke insisted, turning to the side to spit a bit of blood onto the side of the road, "And I've certainly faced worse then that guy and his goons."  
"And that certainly won't be so eager to hunt on our turf anymore, eh, Urameshi!" Kuwabara exclaimed, rubbing the side of his jaw where an angry red bruise was rapidly becoming purple, "They weren't even a challenge after all the stuff we've been through."  
"Normal humans rarely are." Suzaku put it, rubbing gently at a skinned knuckle, "Your group is about the only exception I've come across that's troubled me at all. Incidentally, what was it that the one human gave us at the end?"  
"Suspensions." Yusuke grumbled darkly to himself, "It's a paper that tells you not to come to school for a few days."  
"So, they punish bad behavior by giving one a vacation?"  
"More or less."  
"Humans..I'm amazed at what passes for thought on this existence."  
"Watch it, Sparky." Kuwabara put it loudly, "You're one of us now."  
"Don't remind me."  
"Say, don't you know that person?" Kurama asked, pointing ahead of them. A harried youth had just rounded a corner, puffing with exhaustion. His brown trench coat was torn in places, and the denim jeans were frayed and dirtied with the rough treatment. The youth moved around the corner and full speed, his head tilt downward and his legs pumping as fast as they could move him forward. As he glanced up to see what was before him, and his feet skidded as he brought himself to stop before the group. Kurama, acting with a speed and grace that came easily to him, caught the other before he fell. The face, though wet with a sheen of sweat, was familiar.  
"Kaze!" Yusuke started in astonishment, "What on earth are you doing out in the sun?" Though probably not the most political statement, the question had bearing. So far as Yusuke knew, none of the Asterisk hacking grouped spent much time out of doors, and certainly didn't exercise themselves to exhaustion. Stumbling backward, Kaze pointed in the direction he had come, and at that moment, three figures rounded the corner in hot pursuit.  
As the three came to a slow halt and studied the group with militant eyes, Yusuke scanned each of them in turn. The first, standing slightly ahead of the other two, was a big man. Solidly muscled arms shown tan to the line of the tight green shirt that defined the lines of the body under it to full degree. Black aviation sunglasses reflected the sun under a single arched eyebrow, and the lips twisted slowly into a dismissive curl. The second, as tall as the first but much more slender, was wearing a thick helmet with visor, almost a pilot's helmet, that eclipsed his face. The third, on the right of the big man, was a sharp contrast to the previous two. Lithe and shapely, the female was clothed in a tight grey leather jumpsuit that was nearly a second skin. Her hair shown bright red in the sunshine, but her pale emerald eyes showed no more emotion then those of her covered companions. The two groups sized each other up from about ten feet of distance, looking for weaknesses.  
"Urameshi." The big one rumbled in a voice like an avalanche, and the Spirit Detective blinked momentarily, "I was sorta hoping we could meet each other soon. I've heard a lot about you."  
"You have the advantage of us." Kurama answered smoothly before Yusuke could say anything, and the Kitsune took a step forward to be between Kaze and the three newcomers, "You seem to know who we are, but I'm afraid we don't know your names."  
"No need to be all fancy, fox boy." The first grinned, and Kurama stiffened surprisedly, "We just don't have the notoriety of your little club as of yet, but that will change right quick, believe you me. Name's Lt. Haze, and you'd do best to remember the rank on it. The lovely lass on me left is Strife, though I suggest that you keep your eyes off her curves or she'll carve out your heart." Haze chuckled raspily to himself for a moment, then seemed perturbed that no one else joined in, "And I know that you've already met K here." The masked one raised his hand contemptuously, and with a flash a tiny winged ball appeared in it. Faster then a snake strike, the hand darted forward and the familiar creature whizzed spitefully past Kurama's ear to hit a trash can further down the alley and detonate with a eruption of fire and smoke.  
"It.It can't be.." Kurama stammered, finding himself a step backward without having consciously taken the movement. The Kistune's eyes were wide, and as filled with terror as any of the group had ever seen them, "Kara.Karas-."  
"Now now Red." The Lieutenant sneered contemptuously, "No need to use full names. We just call him K, and from what I gather, he's a bit of a score to settle with you. That's assuming he can find anything left after we get down with you!" Without warning Haze's hand shot forward and red energy exploded from nowhere. Throwing himself backward, Yusuke managed to jump clear of the blast radius as the smoke and dust eclipsed him vision for a moment.  
"Watch it, Yusuke!" Suzaku shouted at him as he, too, dodged the blast, "These aren't ordinary humans!" The smoke parted abruptly as a grey blur pushed through it with amazing speed, spinning wildly and connecting solidly with the side of Yusuke's head. As he spun toward the earth, he saw a flash of the woman, Strife, recovering from the kick and jumping off into the air again. Then his shoulder touched the earth, sending him cart wheeling wildly until he managed to flip himself solidly onto his feet. Rubbing the side of his head gingerly, he snarled at the former Saint Beast.  
"Thanks for the observation, but I think I figured out by now!"  
"On your left!" Suzaku exclaimed, forming the sparkling orange energy that was his trademark, bring up it up to aim, and firing all in one motion. The grey blur, coming down at Yusuke from nearly directly above him, veered sharply from her target, pursued by the crackling arrow. Gathering his energy into his fist, Yusuke threw himself after her.  
  
***  
  
"You're stronger then I thought!" Haze observed, pressing downward and speaking as casually as though he was talking about the weather. The big man's hands held a crackling blue lance of energy that was fighting with Kuwabara's crossed spirit swords. The youth's teeth were clenched tightly with exertion as the black sunglasses bore into his eyes with contempt, "Keep this up and I might even have to try."  
"Try this!" Kuwabara snarled at him, digging his feet into the concrete and pushing up strongly and forcing the lance backward. Freeing one of his swords, he slashed downward and caught his enemy with the tip of the blade, opening a tear in the fabric of the green shirt. Using the momentum from the swing, the tough young fighter spun in a tight circle, bringing his blade up again and running it cleanly through his antagonist's chest.  
Or so went the plan, anyway. As he began his thrust, Kuwabara saw immediately that it wasn't going to be fast enough. Haze was already spinning away from the youth even as he finished his circle, and was far to the left by the time Kuwabara speared the air where he wasn't anymore. Kuwabara's vision went black as the back of his head got pounded like a ton of bricks, sending him face first onto the cement and dirt of the alley. Pushing himself to his knees, Kuwabara spit a mix of blood and dirt onto the asphalt as Haze laughed at him from a good six or seven feet away.  
"Alright, you punk, let's go for real!" The bloodied human challenged, picking himself up. The sky flashed as a spirit gun detonated against the dirt off to their left, and Kuwabara's eyes were as hard as stone.  
"You ready?"  
"Bring it."  
  
***  
  
Kurama coughed against the thick smoke from the spirit gun, coiling his rose whip readily in his hands. His senses alert, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt the familiar energy behind him. Spinning on his heels, he turned to face the reborn terror.  
"You're dead!" He shouted over the sizzle of energy, "I already defeated you!" Karasu wordlessly shook his helmeted head a single time. One of his bombs, a thick rectangular block, rolled between his fingers smoothly as the two slender fighters watched each other. Kurama took another step backward as the memories swirled, unbidden, to nearly overwhelm him. The pain, the blood, and the fear of that fight had left him wakened in a cold sweat many times before, though he had thought he had put the fear behind him.  
"Answer me!" Kurama yelled further, his normally calm voice flushed with anger, "Why aren't you dead! You can't be alive! I killed you!" Again, the shadowy figure shook his head once in negation. Twisting the bomb securely into his hand, Karasu flung the package forward with a blur of motion. Even as Kurama moved sideways, his world exploded with light and sound..  
  
***  
  
"Kurama!" Yusuke saw his friend disappear in the explosion, and began to rush to his aid only to have his legs kicked out from under him by the opportunistic Strife. As his body flailed automatically toward the ground, her fist came up quickly, connecting solidly with his chest and sending him careening into the brick wall that was the edge of the suddenly war-filled area hard enough to crack both the brick and a pair of Yusuke's ribs with impact. Suzaku, a blur of moment also, swept in with a punch that missed the emotionless woman's face by scant inches. Then she was, again, a blur of amazingly fast afterimages, flipping backward and bouncing off the opposite wall into the air. As Suzaku moved in to follow, the blue erupted with shining yellow rings that crackled dangerous as they spread toward the Saint Beast.  
"Look out, Suzaku!" Yusuke breathed, pushing himself back to his feet. Moving instantly from the offensive to the evasive, Suzaku threw himself to the left, twisting his body between the energy rings and avoiding some by inches. Another wave of rings followed to dodging former demon as he strove to stay ahead of the deadly circles that buried themselves a few feet into the wall above the heads of the, still dueling, Kuwabara and Haze. The third barrage missed the newly minted detective by even less, and as Suzaku landed from the fourth, his hand was pressed tightly over his side as blood flowed between his fingers.  
Yusuke swayed momentarily on his feet, and his eyes were swept to the blue energy crackling to Suzaku's left. Haze, his face bored, was pressing Kuwabara slowly back against the wall. As the energy lances shown brightly against the dimming light, Yusuke's eyes widened with the sight. There was something..  
"I recognize this!" He exclaimed, as understanding flooded through him in a rush. The energy lance, the red energy bomb, and the glowing blades, he had seen these attacks before. As Strife leapt into the air, he watched her body twist as she created the Angel Blades around her arm and through them, and he remembered that pattern from M1, the small fighter brainwashed by Ichigaki's Verruka.  
"Hey, 'Lass'!" Yusuke called insulting, and the woman twisted to impale him on her iron gaze, "I like your outfit, though you could certainly use some padding if you wanted to 'fill' it out properly!" The woman's face colored darkly, the first reaction Yusuke had seen out of her, and she jumped into the air to take her revenge. Even as she formed the attack, however, Yusuke was already pushing off the ground and coming at her like a freight train. Moving, almost in slow motion, Strife extended her arms, sending the glittering disks toward her opponent wildly, then blinked in surprise as the Spirit Detective threaded effortlessly through the predictable rings.  
He only had time for one shot, but that was all Yusuke needed. Swinging his fist forward, he connected solidly with the woman's cheek, bouncing her off the ground like a skipping stone on the lake. Even as she struggled back to her feet, Suzaku released his energy, the arrow shaped missile crossing the space between them in seconds, impacting through the center of her chest. The orange aura crackling throughout her body, Strife collapsed to the ground.  
"Nice shot." Yusuke complimented the former demon smilingly, wincing slightly as his ribs protested violently at being moved at all.  
"She's not screaming.." Suzaku said in wonderment, watching the human twitch convulsively under his technique, "They all scream..why..?"  
"These guys aren't normal, you said it yourself." Yusuke shrugged, "At least we won."  
"Should we help the others?"  
"One would kill us if we did.." Yusuke answered, glancing at the spirit sword duel, then his gaze strayed to Kurama and Karasu, mere flickers of emotions at the distant end of the alley, "And the other..needs to win this for himself.."  
  
***  
  
"Give it up, you've got nothing that can beat me!" Haze snarled insulting, forcing Kuwabara back another step, "I'm bigger, stronger, faster, more highly trained, smarter, and generally better then you are. I've studied all your moves; you've got nothing that can beat me!"  
"I like it when people underestimate me!" Kuwabara countered, pushing as hard as he could to hold his ground, "Makes beating them much more satisfying."  
"Please, don't be a fool. You don't stand a chance." Moving onto a quick offensive, Haze hammered at Kuwabara in the same way a farmer might hew at a tough thorn bush. Step by step, Kuwabara was forced backward, crossing around sideways to avoid being backed up against the wall. A final swing knocked the young punk a few feet backward, and Haze's lance disappeared as he sneered belittlingly.  
"Think you know all my moves, do you?" Kuwabara challenged, "Well, how about this one you bastard!" Snapping his arm up, Kuwabara's sword lengthened dramatically as his second blade vanished into nothingness. Expanding to equal itself emerging from the 'hilt' the sword not resembled nothing better then a javelin. As Haze's eyebrows shot up behind his sunglasses, Kuwabara stepped forward and heaved the missile forward as quickly as he could manage. Sidestepping again, Haze avoided the attack by so little that the edge of the energy both burned the side of his head and knock the wide black lens onto the asphalt. The spirit sword, after missing its intended target, buried itself deeply into the side of the brick wall, and glowed helplessly against the red brick.  
"That was a mistake." Haze said dangerously, his cold brown eyes smoldering as he looked his opponent. With a pop of displaced air, he formed his lance into his palm again, raising it above his head, "Any last words?"  
"As a matter of fact: Sword, get long!"  
Haze gasped, blinking for a moment against the strange sensation. His hands were empty as his lance abandoned him, and his eyes were slow to track downward. Across the center of his stomach, yellow energy crackled and burned through him. A thin line of blood dribbled from the side of the lieutenant's face as he stood frozen in stupefied disbelief. Having nowhere to go, the extending sword, stuck in the wall by the throw, and had expanded backward, right where it needed to be. Kuwabara wave a hand, and the huge man toppled to the earth as the spirit sword disappeared.  
"Better..then..I..thought..kid.." Haze groaned, and the spark of life in his eyes disappeared. His breath rattled from his lips for the last time, and the dead weight collapsed to the ground fully. Kuwabara raised his eyes to Yusuke and Suzaku, and then nodded once.  
"Never underestimate your opponent."  
  
***  
  
~He's as fast as I remember!~ Kurama thought quickly, avoiding an explosive encounter with one of the yokai's pets by scant inches, ~Gotta come up with something..~  
Karasu attacks were coming more quickly now, forming a grenade of flying creature and throwing it with mere seconds between each strike. The part of Kurama's mind that could still think rationally was working overtime, analyzing the patterns for a weakness that wasn't there. The smaller creatures and grenades took minimal effort to avoid, but even less effort to create. The larger, square explosives took the helmeted demon more time to form from nothing, but required more space to avoid safely. Kurama simply could not get close enough to the other to affect him. He knew the rose whip would be useless, Yes, Karasu would certainly be expecting that, and would find it extremely easy to counter. Even as Kurama's body went through the motions of avoidance, his mind raced even faster through the halls of his mind. Karasu's fingers closed on another rectangular bomb, and Kurama's eyes widened with inspiration.  
~That's it!~ Altering his course, Kurama throw himself to the side, not away from the explosive as he had previously, but directly toward his foe. Even as the bomb streaked toward him, he spun gracefully in the air, and caught the rectangle in his hand. As the explosive began to shift with prepared detonation, Kurama completed his spin and flung the attack directly back into Karasu's face.  
The bomb went off admirably, showing fire and fragments the area as flame and light engulfed the reborn fighter. Kurama panted tiredly, hoping against hope that the demon was more completely destroyed, but knowing that his fight was far from over. As the smoke cleared, a single figure knelt in the center of the debries. The black clothes with torn in places, and blood flowed from minor cuts. The emotionless visor of the helmet had been partially melted and most of the rest was dented and scorched. Hands reaching up slowly, the fighter pushed the helmet off his face, and Kurama gasped.  
It was NOT Karasu.  
"A shame." The man grinned, throwing the helmet to the side and straightening again, "We were hoping to keep that game running for a little longer. But that helmet was getting stifling anyway, so you'll excuse me if I'm rather glad you penetrated it." The man chuckled, a high, shrill, mirthless chuckle that sent a shiver through the Kitsune's spine and convinced him that the man was not entirely sane.  
"Who are you?" Kurama demanded, his anger emerging, white hot and expanding as he realized he had been played for the fool, "How dare you try such a stunt!"  
"Name's Mason, not that it will matter when you're deader then the doornail." Mason chuckle evilly, inclining his head to the smoldering body of Haze, "If I were you, I'd make your peace with whatever you hol-." The rant cut off sharply as the air hissed in the night. Glancing over his shoulder, Kurama's eyes noticed a sparkling blue line arching slowly through the air. Mason's face twisted as if in pain, and he cursed under his breath.  
"Damnation..you'll just have to wait to have yours another day. I assure you, it'll be soon." Realizing he was about the leave, Kurama darted forward, swinging his fist through the air as Mason dodged sideways. Three more rectangle explosives dropped to the earth where he had been standing, and Kurama had to put all his thought into escaping. The world exploded around him..  
  
***  
  
The alley was smoking, as the spirit detective team took stock. Suzaku was bleeding from a gash in his waist, though it looked more painful then truly serious. Kuwabara insisted that he was fit to go another round, and Yusuke himself had few complaints aside from a bruised ego. Kurama, nearly caught in the last explosion, was scorched and burned in places, and bleeded freshly from a dozen cuts, but also insisting that he would be alright. Finally, Yusuke turned back toward Kaze, the messenger they had nearly died over, but who they had forgotten in the midst of the battle.  
"Just who the hell were those guys?" Urameshi demanded harshly, holding his ribs gently with one arm, "And what did they want with you?"  
"Those were the enemies you asked us to look in on." Kaze explained slowly, his brown eyes piercing Yusuke's, "That was Skull Squadron, experimental task force of the Japanese Self Defense Force research division."  
"Be very careful Yusuke, you've picked a fight with the army." 


	20. Chapter 15: Revelations

Chapter 15: Revelations  
  
Vincent Blaze was normally a patient and collected individual. This is not to say that he could not be lost to the occasional bout of temper or other strong emotion, but he usually retained his calm head or regained it after a short burst or two. Such was not the case as he paced the meticulous garage tirelessly, his precisely shined boots clicking sharply on the stiff metal floor. Like a tiger caged in a small area, the slender man swept back and forth with his forehead creased deeply in thought. Squaring the edge of dark black jacket, an edge that had been fixed five times in the past moments, Blaze glanced at the clock again, and found that, amazingly, twenty seconds had passed since he had last glanced at it. Also inside the massive garage, a few mechanics toyed listlessly with pristine vehicles in perfect condition.  
A screech of tires from the outside brought Vincent up straight faster then a snap inspection from boot camp's most vicious drill sergeant. A jeep, covered in a thin layer of dust from the long road to reach the base, hummed onto the lifeless grey cement and slowed to a halt near Blaze's shining boot. The engine cut off abruptly, leaving the room as quiet as the proverbial tomb. Popping the side door out, Mason stepped quickly from the car, brushing clinging ash from his soiled uniform. With a gesture that could almost be confused as a salute by a moderately lenient officer, Mason brushed past Blaze in to the base proper. Glancing back at the jeep, Vince heaved a sigh of relief as the love of his life emerged from the dusty vehicle.  
"Where's your CO?" Blaze asked her, bringing the tightly clad woman to a momentary stop, "He's usually the first one out." Glancing over her shoulder, Blaze spied the third member of the four man squad materialized from the shadows. The happy-go-lucky sniper everyone affectionately called 'God' or 'Savior' bounced between the couple with a proper, if brief, salute to the stripes on Blaze's shoulder.  
"Caught a bad break- through the chest." Strife answered tonelessly, meeting Blaze's eyes and nearly driving the other a step back, "No longer a factor." For a moment, Blaze was speechless, and then he blinked at the woman he loved.  
"Not longer a factor..?" He asked sharply, drawing no reaction from her, "One of our men dies out there and the most you care about it is changing the factors?"  
Strife's gray eyes, no longer holding the warmth that had always colored them, met Blaze's own blue orbs, and the woman said nothing. Stepping quickly to the side, the jump suited woman stepped through the door and was gone.  
Blaze watched the door she left through for a long moment, and then closed his eyes.  
  
***  
  
"Damnit!" Avery thundered, slamming his newspaper onto the expensive desktop hard enough to make his coffee wobble dangerously close to the edge, "I told you to acquire the targets, not blow the living hell out of half of the city."  
"It wasn't that much of a debacle." Matthews correct him respectfully, "The alleyway was only moderately damaged, and most of the local residents in that area don't stick their neck out far enough to watch when things get rough. Besides, we've come up with a cover story that satisfied the press and.-"  
"Satisfied the press?!" Avery demanded angrily, stabbing his finger down to the paper as his face began to turn a deep purple, "Terrorists! Blame the whole thing on terrorists? Is that the best you could do?"  
"It was the best I could come up with on short notice, yes." Matthews admittedly freely, brushing his jet black hair out of his eyes, "But you can hardly expect the men to take responsibility for it. They were trying to plug the computer leak we detected by arresting one of the hackers and they were ambushed. Exactly the sort of thing we'd expect from..creatures..of our enemies dubious caliber, but none the less hard to swallow. We lost a good man out there.." Matthews drifted off slowly, as if still recovering from some inner torment.  
"A personal friend?" Avery Banks asked sympathetically, his face slowly returning to its usual pallor. His entire body moved as the old man sighed and stared at the wall with sad eyes.  
"One of the best." Matthews nodded, swallowing with difficulty, "He'll be missed."  
"Well, I suppose I can't blame anyone for that." Avery softened quickly, "But please see to it that it doesn't happen again."  
"Yes, Sir!" Matthews saluted, and spun on his heels to the door. As his face turned away from the old drunk, a thin smile lit his features as he thought of Avery's sheer ineptitude. The time was coming where he would have to think about eliminating the pesky questions about innocent lives or property damage entirely.  
He would think on it very hard indeed.  
  
***  
  
Suzaku focused on his breathing for a few short second, getting his mind together on the simple ebb and flow of air through the lungs. Genkai's Temple disappeared from his consciousness as he shut his eyes in concentration. He felt neither the stone floor of the courtyard nor felt the heat of the single torch sputtering in the night air. His hands folded in front of his face as he slipped instinctively into the pose he had adopted many times over the years of his existence. Finding the proper amount of spiritual power within himself, he willed himself into the Prism of Seven.  
That's when everything went horrible wrong.  
The Yokai nearly screamed, clutching at his hair as a thousand burning knives lanced into his skull. His eyes opened automatically, but his vision blurred horribly as the stone clearing swayed back and forth ominously. The former Saint Beast dropped to his knees, casting afterimages as he moved, holding the sides of his head in a near fetal position against the pain. With desperation unknown to the demon, he wrenched his spirit energy away from himself and stopped the spell.  
For a long moment, all he could do was breathe, the aftermath of the pain nearly as mind numbing as the pain itself. His breath rasped between his lips as he tried to regain his wits. When he felt sure that his legs were not jello, he carefully pushed himself off the stone, and staggered to his feet. As his hearing caught wind of an approaching argument, he straightened up completely and forced a smile. While he DID trust the others at the temple, there was no point in exposing a weakness if you didn't have to.  
"Kurama! This is completely absurd!"  
"Oh, stop fussing with it, you look perfectly fine!"  
"Of course I'm fussing with it, I never consented to this!"  
"You didn't need to, it needed to be done!"  
"Wha- Kurama!"  
Propelled by the Fox Demon's push, Hiei took a stuttering step onto the courtyard stone. The black-haired human's face was tinted an unusual red color, though from anger or embarrassment Suzaku wasn't sure. He could, however, immediately pick out the source of the argument. Hiei's normal conservative black cloak was gone. In its place was fire apparition wore simple blue jeans, along with a tight black shirt and a heavy jacket. Though the clothes were strange enough, the expression engraved on Hiei's face was enough to make Suzaku fight off a laugh.  
"Very..ah..human, Hiei." He said, the barest hint of a snicker in his voice as he straightened his orange hair habitually, "Experimenting with, er, 'going native' are we?"  
"Really, Hiei, you look very nice." Kurama chuckled, holding one hand over his mouth concealingly.  
"Hnh." Hiei commented expressively, brushing off his jacket in a mostly feigned expression of disinterest. His expression cleared quickly as he regained his composure, "I suppose it would be useful to blend in to the populace..And it's certainly warm..but I much prefer my own clothes."  
"Useful to blend in." Suzaku agreed seriously.  
"Very warm." Kurama repeated solemnly. The two glanced at each other for a long moment, and then suddenly began to laugh uncontrollably. As Hiei's face began to color, Suzaku doubled over in mirth as Kurama wiped a tear out of one eye.  
"Very funny." Hiei told them sourly, but that just made the other two laugh harder, "But we haven't finished yet."  
"Yes, you're quite right there." Kurama agreed, catching his breath for a moment, "There's still one person that doesn't dress much like any normal human.." Suzaku was suddenly confronted thin smirk from Hiei and a wide grin from Kurama. Nervously, he looked from face to face.  
"What?"  
  
***  
  
"I don't see why they get to stay home." Kuwabara grumbled halfheartedly, "Probably having a good time back there too."  
"I'm sure they're having a party without you." Yusuke rolled his eyes sarcastically, "We've been over this already. They're not exactly sure how to get a demon transformed into a true human into the Spirit World, and Kurama didn't want to leave the temple understaffed."  
"That's what keeps bothering me." Kuwabara continued slowly, as they passed through the enormous doors into the Spirit World palace, "If he's been turned into a human, why does he still have that eye thing on his forehead?"  
"Because, dimwit, it was a wish that turned him that way." Genkai explained sourly, her effortless walk easily keeping up with the rushing gait of the other three, "The Jagan eye is part of what Hiei is. If it used it's magic to separate him from it, it would not be Hiei that became a human. The magic overrides the mechanics of it."  
"What?"  
"Because."  
"Ah."  
"Are they always like this?" Kaze asked curiously, his round face calm as they entered the final resting place of human souls in balance, "Or is today just a special day?"  
"Oh, it's a special day, alright." Yusuke answered sourly, "They're on their best behavior for you. You should see it when this one goes at it with Hiei."  
"Hey! Shorty usually has it coming to him." Kuwabara protested.  
"And you're the one going to give it to him, are you?"  
"What's that meant to mean?"  
"I mean, well, it's not wise to wake up a sleeping DRAGON."  
"I'm sorry I asked." Kaze muttered, as they passed through the final doorway into Koenma's office. The self-pronounced computer nerd glanced upward, and immediately took in a surprise.  
"Klick!?"  
"Kaze..Should have known you'd make it out." The blue haired youth nodded, one hand holding a heavy bandage to his side. From the look on his face, it was probably not the best thing for him to be standing for long periods of time, but neither hacker really cared at the moment.  
"Ama make it back too?" Kaze asked quickly, and Klick frowned briefly,  
"Not so far as we've seen, but he may have gone to ground. You know how he gets when there's gunfire outside."  
"Yusuke." Koenma called, snapping his fingers to call to youth's attention to him. Without his teenage disguise, the ruler of Spirit World looked like nothing more then a precocious child, "You did the right thing saving your friend here, as their warehouse was busted into earlier on in the day. I rather suspect that someone among your enemies has a few tricks of the computer trade."  
"I'd say so." Yusuke agreed quickly, then glanced at the two Asterisk members with a perplexed expression, "Wait, how is it that you know about Spirit World? Most people would be bouncing off the walls by now." Kaze and Klick exchanged a long, almost guilty, look between themselves, and Koenma interceded smoothly.  
"Let's say they've had dealings with the supernatural before and leave it at that." The baby ruler stated, unruffled, "But we need to move on to important matters. Yusuke, as Kaze told you, your enemies are all members of the Japanese Self Defense Force, the army. Specifically, they're members of a highly dangerous weapons development experiment within their ranks, with focus on successful utilization and deployment of.-"  
"Spirit Energy." Surprisingly, it was Kuwabara that had put the pieces together first, and hardened youth's face was set as a tight mask, "That's why they're capturing every demon they can get their hands on. They won't to know how we do what we do."  
"Yes, that's true." Koenma confirmed gravely, "They've already captured most of the premiere talent in the demon world as of now. They've developed a machine capable of analyzing the effect of various techniques upon the blood or equivalent in a fighter. Using blood samples collected, in abundance, from the dark tournament, they were able to develop a small handful of skills. Properly injecting the serums created from the blood can grant others the power pertained within. Using these, and a certain amount of surprise, they were able to capture the sources themselves, yielding the power to capture more demons, and so forth."  
"Like dominoes." Yusuke nodded thoughtfully, "You push one down, and the whole block starts crumbling."  
"Good analogy." Koenma agreed solemnly, "And if we don't want the whole nation to fall, we've got to start catching the blocks. Human bodies are NOT designed to store someone else's spirit, and our research suggests that prolonged exposure will start wearing down sections of the Super Ego portion of the psyche."  
"One more time, in English." Yusuke asked sharply.  
"Those men are going to start losing control of themselves." Genkai supplied, her usual harsh demeanor showing a little bit of worry, "People aren't really all that civilized under the top layer of their mind. Add spiritual energy to those time bombs and it could get very nasty."  
"Well, let's eliminate the sources then." Kuwabara stated simply, "We'll bust, or sneak, into their base or some such and break them out. Wouldn't that work?"  
"We already considered that." Koenma answered affirmingly, "Unfortunately, so did they. Another one of their oh-so-cute advances creates..well..call it a bubble in the spiritual power of the city. Within that bubble, you wouldn't be able to use your powers, and that reduces you to normal human levels, and will all due respect, they have more guns."  
"Koenma, Sir!" A blue-skinned ogre called, nearly panicking as he burst into the room, "We've just finished decrypting the last of the information from the enemy's network."  
"Yes yes, very good. I'll put a commendation for your quick work, was there anything else?"  
"Koenma, Sir! The third squadron, Guinness, has been ordered to launch a strike on the temple!"  
"How long?"  
"Five minutes, according to their charts."  
"How long to get back to the human world?" Yusuke asked Botan sharply, and the pretty version of death twisted her fingers helplessly,  
"No quicker then half an hour."  
~Let's hope they're paying attention." Yusuke thought, ~They're about to have company." 


	21. Chapter 16: Complications

Chapter 16: Complication  
  
"It's a little bland isn't it?"  
"I wouldn't worry about it too terribly much, Suzaku. Remember, the point of this is to avoid attention."  
"Easy for you to say, Hiei, as you're not the one dressed in an army tent."  
"I agree, it may not be as brightly colored as your normal clothes, but I'd hardly call it a tent." Kurama put in, taking a step backward to admire his handiwork. Finding colors that didn't clash with the Yokai's orange hair had been a bit of a difficulty, but a short search had revealed a pair of tan pants with a matching dress shirt. Surprisingly, given the slender and tall physique most demons favored, both items fit, and the overall effect gave the former Saint Beast the air of a relaxed, but serious, college student.  
"Maybe that was an overstatement." Suzaku agreed, glancing into the mirror and pushing the two strands of armored hair out of his eyes as he took in his image, "I suppose I can't complain too terribly much about it."  
"No, I would definitely not recommend it." Kurama chuckled, "Or else I might be obliged to take it personally. Anyway, I'm going to grab us something to drink, we've been running low, and I'll be back shortly." Inclining his head in a miniature bow, Kurama stuck his hands in his pockets and strode out into the courtyard. There was a small shop across from Genkai's temple, and it had some of the better prices in his opinion. Throwing a glance at the darkened sky, he reflected sourly that it always started raining whenever he wanted to go for a walk.  
As he hurried across the slick courtyard in the rainy night, something began to beep in his pocket. Slowing only marginally, he fished the pocket communicator, one of the few items able to reach between the Spirit World and the human plane, and flipped it open. After a moment of static, Yusuke's face resolved itself in the window.  
"Well, Yusuke, Did you need something?" Kurama asked genially, and then took a closer look at the face on the screen. Yusuke was breathing hard, and the scenery behind him was rushing past, "Is something wrong?"  
"Kurama, you've got to get set up! You're going to have company soon!"  
"Company? Wait, what are you talki-."  
"Behind you!"  
Kurama turned instantly, dropping into a form of combat crouch, but he barely had time to react. A dark shape loomed up from the shadows of the wall, and came at him with a blur of motion..  
  
***  
  
"Kurama!" Yusuke shouted into the static, and then shoved the communicator back into his pocket, "We need to get back there!"  
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Botan complained tensely, leaning onto the front of the broom as if to coax a little more speed out of it, "It isn't easy to carry two people on this thing, you realize."  
"You did it before without any problems.." Yusuke grumbled half- heartedly.  
"That was when you were a ghost!" Botan flared, as the two streaked through the sky like a comet. It had been agreed that weighing down the broom with anymore of the group would slow it down too much, so Genkai and Kuwabara had agreed to stay behind in Spirit World until they could be picked up later.  
"Hey, easy!" Yusuke nodded, "You just keep focused on flying, and we'll get there soon enough."  
"Hopefully there's something left when we get there.."  
  
***  
  
"Will you stop staring?" Hiei exclaimed sourly, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. Suzaku looked abashed for a moment, and spread his hands apologetically,  
"Sorry." He said honestly, "Just thinking.."  
"About what?"  
"You and the Fox Spirit." Hiei looked at him sharply for a moment, and Suzaku held up one hand to forestall argument, "Don't bother denying it, it's written all over both of you, if you know what to look for."  
"Hnh." Hiei grunted noncommittally, "And exactly why is that any of your business?"  
"I was just curious, is all." Suzaku explained openly, "Yoko..Kurama..has been through a lot since he became human. In that time, he's seemed to have picked up a need for friendship and warmth..and.."  
"You don't know why he would pick someone who seems to supply neither?" Hiei asked, just a hint of a smile on the edge of his mouth, "Perhaps you simply misjudge people." Suzaku blinked for a moment, surprised by the congeniality in the other demon's voice. Simultaneously, both newly minted humans turned their eyes to the door as it slid open, then blinked as Kurama entered. The former demon did not look good. His red hair was plastered to his face by the rain, and crimson blood was running down from his nose. His pink uniform was torn in places, and he walked with a slight limp.  
"My god, what happened to you?" Suzaku demanded in surprise, rising to his feet. Kurama half turned, shutting the door fully and backing away from it until he was behind the other two.  
"They're coming!" He explained shortly, and Hiei's sword was instantly out of its sheath and pointing at the door. They waited for a moment, and as the door slid open, they all drew a breath.  
Even though he usually attempted to avoid assuming anything about his enemy, Suzaku was still vaguely surprised. The first man through the door was not a blur of motion, nor a bastion of energy, nor any other hostile action. Quite the contrary, the man smiled briefly and even removed his shoes at the door. His uniform was finely pressed, and a small collection of insignia adorned his shoulders and breast pocket. The next through the door was slightly less welcoming, but still not a burst of hostility. Blond hair was tied into a ponytail, and his fingers nervously traced the hilt of the rapier at his waist. The last through the door wore the same black uniform that their late predecessors had tried. One brown eye twitched occasionally with a nervous tick, and the two men spread out behind their boss, facing the three demons.  
"Ah, Hiei. I have heard a good deal about you." The first man said smilingly, pushing his blue-black hair backward to carry the wet strands to the side, "I'm very pleased to meet you."  
"The feeling is wholly yours, I assure you." The short swordsman replied, his katana still leveled unswervingly at the newcomers, "Who the hell are you?"  
"Your pardons. Captain Vincent Blaze of the JSDF experimental unit, Guinness Squadron." Blaze shrugged equably, and then gestured to his partners, "The one with the sword is Lieutenant Conner Boone, perhaps you've heard of him? Made a great reputation for himself in the dueling federation, or perhaps you know of the work his father does at Boone Military Technologies? No? Well, this one is Private Carlos Joaquin. Now then, we don't wish to hurt anyone, so if you can surrender peacefully, we can do this with minimal trouble."  
"That's not even worth a response."  
"Come now, you don't honestly think that the two of you can stand up to the four of us?"  
"Heh, your math is as bad as your aim." Hiei chuckled, "From where I'm standing, it's three on thr-Herk!" The short former demon's sentence ended in a half spoken grunt as pain flared through his lower back. Methodically, the knife probed deeper and twisted. Cold emerald eyes met his own as he stumbled forward, nearly falling to the ground before Blaze caught him in a surprisingly firm grip. For a long moment, his mouth worked without sound, and then..  
"Kurama?" He asked, his voice disbelieving. The sharp dagger in the Kitsune's hand was soaked with blood, and the arm of the pink jumpsuit was dripping with it. Hiei tried to stand, but a blade through the spine has a way of making even the hardest cases stay down.  
"Not quite." Blaze answered him, "Did I forget to mention my last associate, Specialist Fortune. He's a very successful mimic..much more so lately." As Hiei watched, Kurama's face ran together like wax from a candle, reforming into an unfamiliar man with an unruly mop of brown hair. As Hiei's vision faded to black, he saw Suzaku raise his arms in abject surrender.  
  
***  
  
"Good work, Vincent." Matthews nodded smilingly, patting the Captain on the back and looking over the room. Suzaku was standing in one corner, his hands held together with the army's special brand of handcuffs. Boone was leaning against the door frame, still fingering the edge his rapier, as if disappointed he hadn't had the chance to use it. Blaze knelt near the fallen Hiei, snapping a pair of cuffs onto the limp arms. Placing his hands over the bloody wound, Blaze closed his eyes tightly.  
Suzaku blinked amazedly as the hole closed itself under the officer's fingers, leaving the skin bloody, but unbroken.  
"How did you do that?" The Saint Beast Leader asked, blinking to be certain he was still seeing correctly. Without the use of spirit energy, he could not tell whether it was a use of energy he had never thought of, or a simple optical illusion.  
"You'd be amazed what we can do." Blaze replied, standing straight and brushing off his bloody hands. Dipping those hands into his pocket, he came up with a gold colored lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Catching one of the cancer sticks in his teeth, Blaze folded his hands around the lighter, lit the brief flame, and then puffed thoughtfully.  
"We found her, Sir, she was in one of the back rooms!" Joaquin announced, his accent so thick that Suzaku could hardly understand him. With that, he and the Mimic entered with Yukina held between their arms. At the sight of the blood around Hiei, Yukina gave a short cry and ran to the fallen form.  
"You're monsters!" She shouted, water running down her cheeks and converting to priceless pearls in the air and falling unnoticed onto the bloody ground, "You're all monsters!"  
"Monsters." Matthews repeated slowly, his face curling up into a sneer, "You inhuman freaks have no right to be calling US monsters!" Faster then Suzaku would have imagined possible, his left hand struck out in a fast cross to the side of the ice apparition's face. Suzaku could clearly hear the jaw shatter at the force of the blow as Yukina reeled sideways. Matthews hand reached back for another strike, and Suzaku averted his eyes from the next hit. After a moment of silence, he dared to glance back at the center of the room. Blaze stood to Matthews's left, his hand wrapped around Matthews' wrist tightly as smoke rose from the burning cigarette.  
"That's enough! You're going to kill her."  
"I'll decide what's right, if that's all right with you, Captain!" Matthews snarled, putting special emphasis on the rank. Blaze shrugged, and knelt near the sobbing apparition. His hands on the bloody mess of a mouth, and his eyes closed as he eased the pain and performed his trick again.  
"You've already got us, you don't need to do any of that!" Suzaku put in, and immediately regretted it as Matthews turned his way, "You can beat on us all you want, we're used to it, but we won't help you!"  
"Oh? Won't help us?" Matthews chuckled softly, and a shiver ran up Suzaku's spine, "She'll be helping us, but I'm afraid you aren't any use to us. After your little stunt, you don't even know how to use your powers, so I doubt we'll be able to extract the information."  
"My stunt..? How..do you know..about that?" Suzaku exclaimed in surprise, and the elegantly suited aide just smiled at him. His hand blurring forward, Matthews took hold of Suzaku's shirt and lifted him several inches into the air by one hand.  
"We'll see how 'used to it' you are!" He snarled, and then struck. Suzaku had been knocked around before, but it had never been like this. The blows came from both sides, without any time to react. At times, he was almost certain he was being hit in unison from the left and the right, but with the other hand holding him up, he knew it wasn't so. After a flurry of blows, the aide apparently became bored of throwing punches to the face, and moved down to the stomach.  
"Stop it, Sir!" Blaze barked instinctively, and the hail of fists halted. Suzaku slumped weakly, trying to see through the curtain of blood over his eyes. Matthews let go of the Saint Beast's shirt contemptuously, and as Suzaku's feet struck the ground, he found in surprise that they would not hold him up. Falling sideways, the only thing that came between him and the ground was, once again, Blaze, who easily managed to catch and hold the demon up.  
"He's no use to us, Captain; I suggest you deal with him appropriately." The blue-eyed aggressor ordered, spinning on his heels and disappearing out the door.  
"Yes, sir!" For a moment, Suzaku was sure he felt something heavy press onto his chest, and then he was propelled backward into the wall. As his back touched the wall, the blinding blood cleared, and he saw the barrel of Blaze's pistol pointed as his chest.  
A sharp crash and everything went black.  
  
***  
  
Yusuke hit the door at a flat run, throwing it open and nearly slipping on a puddle of blood. His breath caught in his throat as he took in the scene. The floor was stained red near the center of the room, and one of the walls was sprinkled with dots and lines of crimson. The table was smashed, and the wood splinters were spread in a small area around it.  
"I'm too late." He whispered, only to himself. A soft moan stole his attention, and he stepped over the blood puddle and looked behind the crimson spotted couch.  
"Urameshi.." Suzaku said, coughing harshly with a tearing sound that Yusuke knew was not good. From the looks of his face, someone had beat him for something, "They've..taken..the others..Yus..kay.."  
"Shh, don't talk." Yusuke cautioned, noticing for the first time the blackened front of Suzaku's shirt. Powder burns, he thought, and he knew what that meant. Grimly, he opened the front of Suzaku's shirt, knowing what he would find, and then blinked. An ugly bruise was forming just over the other's heart, but the skin was unbroken. Blinking at the shirt in his hands, Yusuke felt a weight still remaining in the breast pocket. Removing it, he held up a gold lighter to the light, bent into a curve around the bullet lodged within its side. Etched into that side, a small inscription said 'To the Blaze of my heart, Love always- Sarah.'  
Suzaku laughed for a long moment, and his eyes closed slowly as the youth blinked at the crumpled lighter. It had been a long day, and he needed to sleep.  
And plot his revenge. 


	22. Special Shards of Christmas

Shards of Christmas (Special)  
  
(Note: This apparently takes place in some form of alternate universe. This is NOT part of the standard time line ;) )  
  
***  
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the temple.  
They should have been sleeping, but it's just not that simple. ***  
  
Kurama sipped his tea thoughtfully as he gazed out the window. The snow had come unexpectedly and blanketed most of Tokyo in a pure white sheen of freshly fallen ice particles. Frost has edged the windows, and Kurama smiled as he took another drink of his steaming tea. Genkai's temple was well insulated, and a pair of fireplaces kept the whole building warm and dry. Soft footsteps behind him caused him to glance over his shoulder.  
"Not sleeping?" Hiei asked curiously, yawning hugely. Since it was late, the former Yokai was not as guarded as he might normally have been. Hiei slipped beside the Kitsune and leaned against the door frame, "Something wrong?"  
"Not at all." Kurama assured him, leaning back and grabbing another cup from the table beside the window, "Just thinking about Christmas is all." The graceful college student deftly poured another tea and offered it to the fire apparition, who gratefully accepted.  
"Who's Chris?" Hiei inquired, taking a deep drought of the cup, and then blinked in surprise, "Good stuff."  
"Genkai's brew, it's very nice." Kurama explained, and then glanced at the other demon curiously, "You've never heard of Christmas?"  
"Another human convention I take it?"  
"More or less. Here, I'll explain.."  
  
***  
-The stockings were hung by the chimney with care  
In the hopes that St. Nicolas would soon be there- ***  
  
"Socks?" Hiei's voice was not terribly impressed by what he was seeing, "On the off chance that a hugely fat man will somehow fit down the fireplace and fill it with sweets?"  
"Hey, don't knock it, it works." Ama put in smilingly, not looking up from his card game. The three hackers had chosen the room with the fireplace for both the light and the heat.  
"It works for some better then others." Kaze commented wryly, shifting slightly to avoid a mock punch from Klick, "But you could be amazed."  
"Don't complain; there's one up there for you after all." Klick warned solemnly, trying to keep a straight face, "After all, if he hears you insulting him, you might not get anything at all."  
"I don't remember asking for a sock." Hiei grumbled, noticing for the first time that one of stockings had his name sewn into it. He reached out to tear it down, and Kurama's slender fingers encircled his wrist quickly.  
"Why not leave it be?"  
"If you say so."  
  
***  
-The children were nestled up snug in their beds  
As visions of sugar plums danced in their heads- ***  
  
"I wonder what I'm getting this year."  
"Will you shut up and go to sleep!" Yusuke groaned, rolling over and burying his head in his pillow. The dark room was silent for a few precious seconds, but, again, it did not last very long.  
"I don't know why you're in such a mood." Kuwabara grumbled sourly, "We'll see who gets coal in their stocking this year."  
"Perhaps he's trying to sleep?" Suzaku suggested lightly from a cot on the other side of the room, "But, just perhaps, he's having difficulties doing that when one of his roommates will not stop talking about a fictional person."  
"Hey, Santa is SO not fictional."  
"I beg to differ."  
"You want to come over here and say that?!"  
"I'm sorry, could you not hear me from over here?"  
"Children, Children!" Yusuke shouted, and the room fell silent again. Pressing his head grimly into the pillow, Yusuke reflected that, if this situation came up again, he would not be in the same room with Kuwabara. Even if that meant Hiei and Kuwabara sharing a room, which, in turn, meant certain death to one of them, he would not be here.  
"It's going to be all coal for you two."  
"AAAGHHH!"  
  
***  
-Mom in her handkerchief and me in my cap  
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap- ***  
  
Genkai's eyes snapped open and she jumped up instinctively and dropped into a defensive combat crouch. The wall shuddered again with the impact, and she could just barely make out the voices behind the wall.  
"Here you are, I'll show you Santa!"  
"Ow, Leggo!"  
"It seems he doesn't want to fight..afraid of losing your presents from being 'good', eh?"  
"You stay out of this, Sparky! Ow!"  
"Hey, you're right, this IS fun!"  
Genkai sighed, glancing at the bed where Yukina stirred fitfully, but remained asleep. Sliding her wizened body into the cot beside the bed, the old mentor grumbled privately to herself.  
"Dimwits.."  
  
***  
-When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter  
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.  
Away to the window I flew with a flash  
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash- ***  
  
"What the..?" The three hackers turned simultaneously to the window where a crash had erupted a few moments before. The cards forgotten, the trio pulled pistols from their belts and crouched behind the tables.  
"Out on the lawn!" Kurama reported tightly, rose in hand.  
"Whatever it is, it's using spirit energy!" Hiei's sword was, of course, out before anyone else had even registered the sound. For a long moment, the five simply watched that side of the room. Then, cautiously, Kurama snuck forward and glanced out the frosty window.  
  
***  
-The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow  
Gave a luster of mid-day to objects below  
And what to my wondering eyes should appear?  
But a miniature sled and eight tiny reindeer- ***  
  
"What's going on?" Genkai demanded, emerging from the door in perfect precision. Yusuke and Suzaku were behind her, and neither looked particular anxious to be dealing with a problem so late in the night. Kuwabara came next, and from the looks of things, he wouldn't be ready to deal with a problem for at least a few days yet.  
"I don't know, I can't see!" Kurama exclaimed, squinting his eyes. The frost was obscuring his vision, and the moon was only a quarter full anyway. Movement caught his eye in the courtyard, where a silver trash can was on its side. A trio of figures gathered around the can were attempting feverishly to get a medium sized sled back on its proper side. Even as Kurama watched, the sled tipped and landed, and the reigns rose up into the air. Attached to the reigns were eight..  
"Broomsticks?"  
  
***  
-With a little old driver so lively and quick  
Well, I knew in a moment, that is must be Saint Nick  
More rapid then eagles his coursers now came  
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name  
  
"On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen.  
On Comet, On Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen!  
To the top of the porch to the top of the wall!  
Now dash away dash away dash away all!"- ***  
  
"Koenma?" Kurama blinked in amazement, but it was undeniable. The miniature ruler was inside the sled, waving his arms in exasperations as he shouted at the other two figures.  
"Botan!" He shouted, "I thought you said you could control them!"  
  
"Well, Koenma, eight of these is a little more then I usually do." Botan flared in response. Koenma seemed not to notice, but instead turned to the last figure.  
"Ogre! Get us back in the air, NOW! This is NOT the impressive entrance I wanted!"  
"I'm sorry Koenma Sir, I got distracted!"  
"Don't be sorry, Move! Up!"  
  
***  
-As dry leaves that before the hurricane fly  
When they met an obstacle mount to the sky  
So up to the rooftop the coursers they flew  
With a sleigh full of toys, and Saint Nicolas too!  
  
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof  
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof  
As I drew down my head and was turning around  
Down the Chimney St. Nicolas came with a bound!- ***  
  
"Botan! Look out!" The sled and the brooms, flying ungainly through the air, spilled their rides out onto the snow covered rooftop in a massive tangle of limbs and wrapped presents. Koenma, shivering with the cold, straightened his red and white Santa hat and nodded to the shaken Botan.  
"Well, no thanks to you. I'm ready to make my grand entrance." Koenma said loftily, "Here we go." Koenma dragged, with a great deal of difficulty, a sack that was almost as big as he was over to the chimney.  
"Koenma, don't you think you should be careful with a bag that large?" Ogre warned his boss carefully, brushing fallen snow off his horns.  
  
"Hey, if a fat man and a few deer can do it every year, I can certainly-ah!" Koenma hefted the bag over his shoulder and, now unbalanced, tipped backwards into the chimney and disappeared from site with a despairing yell. Ogre shrugged, and glanced at Botan, suppressing a smile.  
"I told him so."  
"Indeed you did."  
  
***  
-He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot  
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot  
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back  
And he looked like a peddler just op'ning his pack  
  
His eyes, how they twinkled, his dimples, how merry  
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry  
His droll little mouth was drawn up in a bow  
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow  
  
The stump of a pipe, he held tight in his teeth  
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath  
He had a broad face and a little round belly  
That shook when laughed like a bowl full of jelly  
  
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf  
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself  
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head  
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread- ***  
  
The entire room stood stock-still in amazement as Koenma picked himself off the wood at the bottom of the fireplace. Fortunately for the diminutive ruler, Genkai, seeing what the other was planning, had splashed water on the wood and doused the fire, lest the arrival be less then pleasant for him. Attempting to regain some of his dignity, the baby-faced Koenma stood and brushed off his now completely black outfit. There was so much soot and ash over his face that it wasn't until he spoke that they were sure just what they were seeing.  
"If any of you start making elf jokes, I promise you that you won't live to regret it." Koenma muttered darkly.  
"We wouldn't dream of it, Spirit Ruler." Suzaku promised him, his lips twitching as he repressed a smile.  
"Why do you think we would?" Kurama agreed, holding one hand over his mouth concealingly.  
"Oh shut up!"  
  
***  
-He spoke not a word but went straight to his work  
  
And filled all the stockings and turned with a jerk  
  
And laying a finger to the side of his nose  
  
And giving a nod up the chimney he rose.- ***  
  
"Here you are, just something to show how much we at spirit world appreciate the work you do." Koenma muttered, opening his sack and passing out gifts. A shining black scabbard for Hiei had the short Yokai smiling tightly to himself, and a collection of rare seeds had Kurama doing the same. A video game for the ecstatic Kuwabara, and Yusuke's new ear plugs came in handy to block out the others youth's loud cheering. A richly colored parrot for Suzaku, Finches for Yukina, and a new hat for Genkai, not to mention a pile of sweets in every stocking.  
"What about us?" Kaze complained briefly.  
"You three are based off of real people; you don't need any more gifts then what you'll get." The three Asterisk members shrugged this over for a moment, and then shrugged smiling. Turning away from them, Koenma entered the chimney and smiled widely at the group. After a moment, he glanced upward and sighed.  
"Ogre! Drop the rope!"  
  
***  
-He sprang to his sleigh, and to his team gave a whistle  
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle  
But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight  
"Merry Christmas to all and to all..goodnight- ***  
  
As they watched Koenma sleigh disappear into the distance, jerking across the sky like a drunken sailor, Kurama slowly turned to the rest of the silent crowd. After a moment, they did the one thing that was appropriate after that episode.  
They laughed.  
  
(Happy holidays everybody!) 


	23. Chapter 17: Jail Break

Chapter 17: Jail Break  
  
"Poor blighter, Looks like they really got a good lick in on him."  
"I'll say, you think he'll come around soon?"  
"Soon enough. He's had a nasty bump on the noggin and a trip through the Machine. It might be a while."  
Even as the vaguely familiar voices discussed him overhead, Kurama's consciousness was reluctantly returning to him. Rather then immediately open his eyes, he kept them closed and ran through the mental equivalent of a power-on checklist. His limbs were located where he left them, and seemed to be functional, though he felt stiff. The left side of his head ached, and a line of blood had dried to the edge of his mouth. Deciding that he was, for the moment, functional, Kurama pushed himself up into a sitting position and immediately regretted the motion. The dull ache in his head became a full-blown migraine, and his stomach roiled protestingly, threatening to empty its contents if the motion was no ceased.  
"Hey, easy there, boy. There's no hurry." The deeper voice said again, and Kurama's eyelids parted only reluctantly. Chu, he decided, was looking decidedly worse for wear. His clothes hung on him loosely, and the expression on his face could best be described as 'ill'.  
"You're finally awake." Rinku added, leaning over to peer closer at the sealed wound on the left side of Kurama's head, "I wouldn't move around too much if I were you. You were in bad shape."  
"Mmm, I believe it." Kurama agreed, resisting the urge to nod and set his head on fire again, "Where exactly are we?"  
"In the hands of our enemies." A melodious voice put in from one corner, and Kurama's head jerked around to look, a most unfortunate maneuver because the pain, momentarily fading, returned with enough strength to temporarily prevent him from seeing anything. Two forms sat nonchalantly on the metal bench against the wall. Both of the two had blue hair, but it was Shishi Wakamaru that had spoken, "From which we have yet to devise an escape."  
"Though we have certainly tried." Touya agreed, moving a little gingerly as he crossed the room and filled a small plastic cup with water from a tiny sink against the back wall. Keeping a hand protectively over his bandaged middle, Touya bent and offered the drink to a gratefully accepting Kurama, "But there doesn't seem to be a hole in the defense net that we've been able to exploit."  
"I find it hard to believe that the four of you could not find a way to get out." Kurama pondered thoughtfully, sipping his water. His eyes swept the medium side room calculatingly, Taking in the metal bench/beds that lined the walls on either side, the tiny sink and modest collection of cups, and the closet sized chamber in the back containing a toilet and a curtain for privacy. Abruptly, his train of thought shattered as a horrible suspicion clawed as his gut. Reaching out with his mind, he began to draw upon his spirit energy, a simple task to simply move the curtain over a few inches.  
Nothing.  
"We can't use our powers in here." Touya informed him gravely, "We can certainly feel it within us, but we can not tap into it for any purpose, believe me, we've been trying. Our captors are not ones to take the risk of our escape while here. Every so often, we are temporarily moved to another facility without this effect, probably to keep us healthy. I imagine that long-term denial of life force could have negative impact on even a half-human such as you. We, being more spirit dependant, are practically helpless."  
That explained a lot. The four demons were slouching about as though they had completed a four-mile marathon just a few minutes ago, and by the looks of their tired eyes, it probably felt like they had done so.  
"Why have us here at all?" He pried, and the four shifted uncomfortably.  
"Every so often they draw out samples of our powers using a machine in the main faculty." Shishi answered slowly, "You were lucky to be unconscious during your first run, the procedure isn't..pretty."  
"I see. Mundane difficulties?"  
"The usual. Constant camera surveillance, a double guard at the door and the entrance to this section, and the prospect of fighting through a high number of train military personnel without powers even if we were to get out of this room."  
"That is indeed a problem." Kurama sighed unhappily, settling his spinning head back against the steel floor, "I guess we simply wait for rescue."  
"We have been waiting a long time."  
Whatever rejoinder the Kitsune might have had was lost as the red-haired teen's eyes closed and he drifted again into the realm of dreams.  
  
***  
  
"Papers and identification?" The bored sentry asked, reluctantly rising from his seat within the checkpoint to the base. Nearby, a trio of green-uniformed soldiers watched the jeep, but only as a change from watching their companions. The man inside the jeep did his best to smile unconcernedly as he dug around the glove box for the counterfeit ID cards, as if he passed through these checkpoints everyday of his life. He did not.  
  
"How's the weather been?" Kaze asked, forcing himself to smile at the guard as he passed over the papers. He was confidant in his ability to fake such authorization orders, but a single mistake in the rush job could easily be fatal, if the guard decided to be a little more careful about checking the writing. But the guard hardly glanced at the ID picture before tapping the console and opening the second gate.  
"Either hot as hell or raining." The guard griped, passing the stack of papers back through to Kaze, who was picking uncomfortably at the hastily acquired uniform, "And the new management loves drills. What are you hauling?" His eyes glanced curiously at the covered rear of the vehicle. Instinctively, Kaze stiffened, but soon forced himself to relax again.  
"Oh, just some spare parts that the brass absolutely HAD to have delivered today, but didn't bother telling the usual delivery man, you know how rank works."  
"Do I ever." The man agreed, waving Kaze on. Allowing himself a quick breath of relief, Kaze carefully pulled the jeep forward and swung around the edge of the building. Parking the in a secluded corner, Kaze reached back and tapped the tarp covering the back of the jeep.  
"Sloppy." Suzaku noted crawling gingerly out of the back and brushing off the green uniform he was wearing. With his oddly colored hair tucked up under his cap, he looked like any ordinary soldier, "I would expect a research center to have more of an alert security staff."  
"It's been a long time since we've been at war." Yusuke reminded him, also in uniform. Kuwabara was next and, by contrast, he retained his usual outfit, artfully scuffed and dirtied by an hour of the three humans walking over it. A pair of shackles, closed but unlocked, held his hands closely together.  
"Alright, Let's get this over with and get home." Kaze mumbled, picking up a small and non-descript black briefcase, "I couldn't get a floor plan from their database, but I'm sure you'll be able to find the stockade. I'll see if I can't disrupt their efforts to follow us if something goes wrong. I'll meet you in the jeep at he doors in exactly twenty minutes. If you're late, you stay here."  
"It's dark." Suzaku mumbled quietly looking at the building. Yusuke squinted at the bright mid-day sun, and then back at the former Saint Beast.  
"Dark?"  
"All of it." Suzaku agreed, "I can't sense a thing inside."  
"Well, we knew it was going to be. Let's get this over with."  
Grimacing, Suzaku braced himself and stepped into the spirit- empty area around the base. It was time to go indeed.  
  
***  
  
Despite his assurances to the contrary, Ama's stomach continued to argue that there was still food within it. Moreover, it was strongly convinced that this food was hazardous, and took steps to prevent injury by expelling as much of it as it possibly could into the small wastebasket. After retching a few more times, quite uselessly, Ama sat back heavily, touching the back of his head to the cool steel of the computer console.  
There were all manner of sicknesses that he knew of, and he knew just as surely that it was nothing of the sort he suffered from. The illness had been growing on him, slowly and surely, and though his stomach was settling for the moment, he knew it would not last. Each day would be worse and worse, until he couldn't even move. Then, finally, he would be out of energy to expend, and would..  
His expression hardened abruptly. He wouldn't do anyone any good dead, but it wouldn't do to be caught away from base if his friends made their move. He needed to be here, in order to slow the response time, and generally fiddle with things without anyone knowing he was working against the house. The fact that the bases strange spirit-energy less field was slowly killing him was inconsequential. Painfully, very painfully, he dragged himself back into his swivel chair and turned toward the computer monitors. Here, at the nerve center of the base, someone was always on duty, monitoring the security cameras and, in general, ready to organize the base if the shit hit the fan. He glanced up at the monitors boredly, not really expected to find anything unusual.  
And, unusually, he was wrong.  
The television screen at the very top of the pile was larger then all the rest, and for a good reason. The camera feed it was getting was from the camera right outside the door, a place not commonly busy with traffic, given its out of the way location. Therefore, it was something of a surprise to find a man in an ill-fitting uniform standing in front of the door, back to the camera lens. It was even more unusual for said man to, instead of punching in the code, connect a box device to the keypad instead. For a moment, Ama's mind raced through his knowledge of current military hardware, even as the man's sidearm found his way into his other hand. The box hummed softly, and the sound was quickly identified by the ersatz officer.  
It was the hum of an electronic lock breaker.  
Even as Ama spun around in his chair, hands scrambling for his own pistol, the lock clicked open. Even in the midst of the movement, Ama had to acknowledge the skill of his sudden enemy. The speed at which the lock had been broken meant the program on the box was equal to anything he had yet come up with. With a suddenness that startled him, the door burst open, and both pistols were snapping into firing position. All at once, the guns were pressed against the foreheads of two very familiar faces.  
"Ama?"  
"Kaze?!"  
  
***  
  
"No reason to get up. Neither of us is an officer."  
Inside the chilly cell, Kurama pulled himself into sitting position again, and listened to the conversation outside the metal door. His companions ignored the conversation, clearly having heard things like it before. The only reason Kurama paid attention was that the voice struck a cord within him, a vaguely familiar speech pattern.  
"Sorry, Man, this is a restricted area. You gotta keep moving." One of their guards responded softly, as if anxious to protect a friend from trouble with the brass.  
"Well, of course. Commander asked us to drop off the new addition on the way to the mess hall, so here he is." The sound of a pair of feet being pushed forward, "Careful with him, he gets nasty sometimes."  
"You can't just drop him off here without papers." The other guard, much more a stickler for the rules, piped him. His voice changed subtlety, as suspicion began to form, "And how did you get passed the two at the door-?"  
Whatever response the newcomer had was lost in a meaty impact and a brief sound of a heavy weight hitting the floor. A brief gasped, a clatter of a weapon to the floor, and a short scuffle and the hallway fell silent again. For a moment, Kurama's eyes met those of his friends near him, suddenly paying attention to the sounds outside the door. With a suddenness that startled him, the lock on the door snapped up, and the door itself swung open.  
"Well, Boys, which one of you opened a pizza?" Yusuke Urameshi stood framed in the doorway, tossing a green cap off to his left. Behind him, Kuwabara smiling face stood over a topple guard, the second soldier standing on his head, sort of, in the opposite corner. Another noise of metal on metal as Suzaku slid open the door across from Kurama, and more of the captured demons moved into the hall. Kurama's heart lurched slightly as two of the members of the former Itchigaki team stepped carefully through the door, supporting an apparently unconscious Hiei between them.  
"What happened to him?" Kurama demanded, nearly snarling the words and forcing his anger back at the last minute.  
"His trip in the Machine was just a few hours ago." The enormous Bui answered, looming up from the darkness of the cell, "It takes a while to recover."  
"Unfortunately, we don't have to time to wait for him to wake up." Yusuke said grimly, "It's time for us to get out of here. Are we missing anyone."  
Kurama looked over the Apparitions, counting each one. Shishi, Suzuka, Bui, The Ms, Rinku, Chu, Touya and Jin were standing together, drawing comfort from their closeness. Hiei and Himself..which left..?  
"Where's Yukina?" He asked, glancing around again.  
"She wasn't in either cell." Suzaku noted carefully.  
"We can't send out a search party." Yusuke said, glancing momentarily at the unconscious Hiei, "Maybe its best that he's asleep after all."  
"He'll wake up eventually." Kurama reminded him.  
"We'll deal with that when it happens." Yusuke responded. But he didn't look too confident.  
  
***  
  
"I hate to be a stickler to formalities, but you know who I am, and your gun is still pointed at me." A sweat drop slid down the side of Ama's head, partially with tension, and partly with the strain of keeping his stomach straight again.  
"Yes, well, you can't blame me for being surprised at seeing you here. In the base of our nominal enemy. After they attacked us."  
"You don't really think I set that up, do you?"  
"You ARE wearing their uniform."  
"So are you."  
"Touché."  
"You going to put the gun down any time soon?"  
"You have proof I can still trust you?"  
"Try the computer: Mayflower.exe"  
Moving cautiously, never taking his eyes off the man in front of him, Kaze stepped over to the computer console and tapped at the keyboard. For a long moment, nothing happened, then, with the winding hum of computers shutting down, the lights clicked off.  
With the power off, and the Comm Center inoperative, the base was effectively deaf, dumb, and blind.  
"Well, that settles that." Kaze sighed, lowering his pistol and flipping it up to hold it by the barrel. "I'll be seeing you around. You want me to give you an excuse for the shut down, or you want to handle it yourself."  
"Be more convincing if you did it." Ama grimaced, bracing himself. This was not going to be pleasant. In a blur of motion, the hilt of Kaze's pistol swept up. A blinding flash of pain, and the world faded to black.  
  
***  
  
"Hey, Kaze! Over here!"  
Kaze altered his direction, sweeping quickly over to join the small group of apparitions moving their way through the compound.  
"Yusuke, we have to hurry. If they're good, it won't take them long to restore the power and find us."  
The light flicked on, and the sudden illumination only accented the blinking soldiers that had filed through the door, and turned their heads, and their guns, toward the group.  
"Well, so much for that. It's time for things to get fun." 


	24. Chapter 18: The Great Escape

Chapter 18: The Great Escape  
  
Smoke drifted upward in a lazy arc from the tip of the burning cigarette, but the man who held it was anything but lazy. Matthews took another deep drag, burning away nearly a quarter of the cigarette in a single puff, and then released a stream of pent-up smoke easily into the air. His right foot tapped impatiently on the ground, and his right hand traced intricate patterns with the smoking cigarette as it too fidgeted impatiently. He glanced at his watch, finding it nearly a quarter of a minute since he had last looked at it, doesn't time fly when you're having fun?  
Beside him at the café's table, Vincent Blaze was also fidgeting, but not from impatience. If he were nothing else in life, he was a patient man, who was perfectly content to wait for eternity until life approached him on his own terms. No, he was uncomfortable because he was, by necessity, dressed in civilian clothes for the duration of the operation. As was Conner Boone, who lounged at the one of the far tables, drinking scalding coffee and reading a sport magazine, and Joaquin who, standing outside of the café, looked to all the world as if he were deeply engrossed in the music coming from his headset. Squinting somewhat, he could barely make out the tip of the rooftop where God, the errant sniper, was invisible even to Matthews, who knew he was there. From that vantage, he would be able to eliminate anyone who set foot in the café, if it came down to that.  
  
So it was some surprise to him when the two men he was waiting for materialized beside the table without so much as a hint of contact from the spotters outside.  
Blaze jerked violently in surprise, nearly spilling the cup of coffee in front of him, and Matthews had to fight to avoid doing the same thing. Instead, he smiled calmly, as if there was nothing unusual in the way his net had been circumvented, and welcomed the two.  
"Ralis, Shuya, pleased you could make it." He said softly as the two slid into the proffered seats in exactly the same way, "How's your master?"  
"Well enough." Ralis muttered quietly, brushing his black hair lightly with his finger tips, his rich baritone voice barely audible, "From your jokers outside, it was almost as if you didn't trust us anymore, Gui." Matthews grimaced, he hated being called by his first name, and Ralis knew it well enough.  
"Never any harm in being prepared for anything." He answered in the same tone, as calmly as he possibly could, "Is this not the case?"  
"Shall we cut right to the chase?" Shuya suggested, the movement of his mouth accenting the pinkish purple scar that ran over the length of the side of his fact, "Our organization gave you information in return for your expertise working on a project we hoped to advance. We grow impatient waiting for what we paid so dearly for."  
"The fact that I have been as yet unable to fulfill this obligation has truly.hmm.. scarred my heart, you can be assured." Shuya stiffened, just noticeably, and the corner of Ralis's mouth quirked into a smile, "But as it so happens, that pain can now be relieved."  
It took the two of them a moment to catch up with him, and he saw the surprise written into their faces as clearly as if it had been inked in permanent marker, "You have the device?" Ralis demanded.  
"A working model?" Shuya pressed quickly. With a flourish, after a nod from Matthews, Blaze pulled the heavy briefcase up onto the table, opened it, and turned it toward the pair. Almost reverently, one reached forward and took out the metallic circlet within. It beeped softly between his fingers, and Ralis smiled at Matthews.  
"Our master will be most..pleased by this." He said softly, but truthfully, "In fact, if you'd like to provide us with the blueprint.-" He cut off as Blaze's phone buzzed in his pocket. Matthews knew Vincent would have turned it onto 'emergency only' mode before coming to meet like this. The officer picked up the phone easily, and pressed it to his ear. Given the way the military models were designed, Matthews could hardly hear what the other said, but even he could clearly see the agitation.  
"Sir, you aren't going to like this." Blaze said quietly, lowering the phone, "It seems there's a problem back home."  
"What sort of problem?"  
  
***  
  
"What do you think is going on?" Sid asked nervously, shifting from foot to foot in anxiety, glancing back at the base where, even now, klaxons were going off and the brass was calling in the clans on SOMETHING or other. Of course, exactly what it could be was a matter of some debate.  
"It's just a drill." Richard sighed, from the other side of the road, standing behind the guard house. Almost contemptuously, he lit a cigarette and flicked an ash in the direction of the base, "Don't they ever get tired of all this practice? I tell you, you bust your ass to get in position and what do you find when you get there? Some baby-faced lieutenant berating you for not doing it with a pristine uniform or something."  
"You think?" Sid asked worriedly, still shifting from foot to foot, and glancing nervously around the place, "What if it isn't?"  
"If it wasn't they would have told us on the radio, you see?" Richard snarled, glancing over as an APC (Armored personnel carrier) pulled itself out of the garage languidly, and turned toward the gate, "When you really think about it, about the only way we'd fail to be in position by the time some really happened to the base, would be if they managed to take down the central computer entir- What the hell!?"  
Richard's rant was cut off in mid tirade as the APC lurched forward, accelerating toward the gate at an increasingly dangerous speed. For a moment, the hard-bitten Richard could only stare at it, and then he glanced over at his companion.  
"Halt! You have to present ID before leaving!" Sid shouted at the approaching vehicle, and then opened up with the rifle slung over his shoulder. The bullets sent sparks off the windshield as the near tank blazed forward in inexorably forward. At the last moment, Richard threw himself sideways, catching hold of Sid and yanking him out of the way. With equal ease, the APC rolled over the dropped cigarette, ripped through the first gate, and simple trundled over the second and turned into the road with a screech of torn metal. Only seconds after it, three jeeps raced over the suddenly open entrance and broke off in pursuit.  
Glancing regrettably at the crush smoke, Richard picked himself, and carefully brushed off his uniform before lighting another and taking a deep drag. Glancing back at the new recruit, he smiled,  
"So, how well do you think we'll fair on Arctic Radar duty?"  
  
***  
  
"We got company, Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted over his shoulder, twisting the wheel and sending the armored van into a tight corner, barely clearing the telephone poles on the other side. Pedestrians were scattering on the sidewalk, looking with some surprise as a military vehicle burned through their city as if lives were at stake.  
Which, of course, there were.  
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Suzaku demanded, his foot tapping nervously, and then flinching violently at the van collided with a trash can, sending papers and garbage over the street, "Without destroying half a block that is!"  
"Concentrate on driving, Kuwabara." Kurama insisted softly, as Kuwabara opened his mouth to argue. With a mutter over his should, Kuwabara sent the car lurching through another turn, "We're never going to be able to deal with them in the city. What we need is a way to get them into a more open area." Subconsciously, the Kitsune's hands stroked the limp fingers of the unconscious Hiei, the last of the passengers in the front set of seats.  
"Where to, Urameshi?" Kuwabara called, nearly colliding with a truck making an illegal U-turn and tearing up some parking meters instead, "We're running out of time, you know!"  
"Don't look at me; my plan sorta depended on me getting my spirit gun back again." Yusuke snapped, thinking furiously. Immediately upon leaving the base, the group had made a discovery. Though access to spirit energy had been restored, their actual levels rose only slowly, somewhat akin to regaining one's energy after a long and difficult battle. This development had turned an entire van full of hardcore warriors into a rather worried group of tired men. A stray memory clicked, where could they drive a van this large without worrying about other cars at two in the afternoon?  
"Hey Kuwabara!" He called again, "Take us to the freeway!"  
  
***  
  
Sparks erupted as trained soldier stood up through the open roofs of the jeeps and fired at the speeding APC. Fortunately, those that had made the armored van had designed it, of course, with gunfire in mind. The rifle rounds did little more then dent the rear of the vehicle. The gunmen were also hampered by the other cars on the road, swinging the jeeps around wide or often waiting for a better shot before firing freely, which meant that the heavy saturation fire was virtually impossible, and the smattering of light rounds were doing little damage to the vehicle.  
Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the body of the truck hitting OTHER vehicles.  
"You want to watch were you're going, Kuwabara!" Yusuke shouted over his shoulder as the APC lost some of the front bumper against a truck in the wrong lane at the wrong time, "You know, miss a car, just for variety?"  
"I'm trying alright!" Kuwabara exploded, "You think this is easy, I've never driven one of these things before! It's a lot of thinking to do." With a flourish of spark the personnel carrier nearly sideswiped a car, the driver being spared by virtue of an amazing display of James Bond style driving.  
"Maybe that's the problem." Kurama exclaimed, snapping his fingers. Leaning forward abruptly, he stretched out his hands and covered the front of Kuwabara's eyes, reminiscent of the childish game of 'guess who'. Suzaku might have smiled as he recognized something he had hitherto only read about, had the man with his eyes covered NOT been the driver of a military vehicle pushing the speed limit on a gradually busying freeway.  
"Have you complete lost your mind Kurama!" The Saint-Beast started, "Without his eyes he'll smash into-."  
"Absolutely nothing." Kurama smiled, as the APC lurched sideways, deftly avoiding a pair of cars and skating between a semi-truck and a freshly waxed limousine. Swinging around wide, it arced gracefully between the rows of moving cars without flaw or hesitation.  
"His spiritual awareness.." Suzaku murmured, catching on quickly, "It recovered more rapidly then pure spiritual strength, and he can use it to avoid the senses of other humans on the road.  
"Precisely." Kurama smiled a smile of smug satisfaction. Leaning back, he went back to tending Hiei as Kuwabara pulled his headband down over his eyes. For a moment, the Kitsune stiffened just noticeably, as if something were slightly out of place, "Why have they stopped shoo-.!"  
The Van abruptly sprang forward, propelled by an impact against the back end. Rinku and Yusuke, being the closest to the front seats in the back, were slammed violently into the metal divider between the two. Shaking off a daze, Yusuke summed up the situation quickly,  
"They're trying to run us off the damn roa-.!"  
Another harrowing impact and the rear tires fishtailed for a moment before straightening up, narrowly avoiding a tour bus in the process. Another impact and van swung toward the wall, turning aside only just barely.  
"We've got to get these guys off us, Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted, gritting his teeth as a jeep pulled up beside them, turning sharply and slamming into the driver's side, sending ripples of impact throughout the front compartment and nearly lifting the heavy van off it right wheels. A second smash, and a third, and the van was definitely not looking as pristine as when it came out of the garage. Twisting the wheel angrily, Kuwabara gave the jeep a nudge that nearly sent the smaller vehicle off the road instead. However, though the heroes had commandeered a better car, the soldiers at the jeep had been trained for these sorts of situations.  
"Get.off.my..damn.back!" Kuwabara grunted, holding his palm to the window. With a slightly pained cry, the thin yellow sword sprang into existence, stretching through the bullet-proof glass, through the space between the cars, and slightly into the spinning wheel of the jeep before the energy faltered, disappearing.  
But it was enough.  
The damaged hubcap popped off like a cork from a bottle, and the wheel, severed from the axis, followed. The jeep, derived of the front wheel, touched the ground directly; sending up a shower of sparks before the powers of friction jerked the car backward, sending it spiraling down the freeway. Seeing the fate of the first, the other two jeeps immediately dropped back, remaining behind the jeep rather then attempt a sideswipe, though Kuwabara could no longer use his weapon.  
"There's mine! You think you can handle the other two?"  
"Allow me." Shishi Wakamaru commented, pulling the thick level at the rear of the van. A moment's hesitation, the back of the APC had been slightly bent by the repeated pounding, and the rear door, used for rolling motorcycles and other small vehicles into the APC, open, sending up a shower of brightly colored sparks as the top half dragged against the highway. The soldiers in the van, more then thirty feet away, looked startled but started scrambling back to the roofs to resume the gunfire.  
"Jin..if you would?" Shishi asked carefully, and the red-haired demon nodded. Closing his eyes, the winds around him shifted as he touched what he had of his powers.  
"Ready..now!" Shishi leapt off the back of the van as easily as a mountain goat might jump from rock to rock. A sharp gust of wind, carrying what was left of Jin's spirit energy, propelled the swordsman forward, landing against the hood with amazing force and sending the sword directly forward with break neck speed.  
The soldier driving blinked in bewilderment, glancing down at the gleaming sword blade, following the shining line down, through the steering wheel, and down into the bloody hold over his breast pocket. The card lurched from side to side slightly as Shishi pulled his sword back. The blue haired warrior turned, his knees bent as he throw himself forward with all his might, even as the jeep turned to smash into a divider with a roar of flame.  
"He won't make it!" Kurama shouted, as the warrior began to fall, too soon to catch onto the ramp. With a whiz of motion, a trio of yoyo's sped from the back of the van, wrapped tightly around the hilt of the sword Shishi so desperately clung to.  
Shishi blinked, pulled after the van by his grip on the sword, pulled against the highway. The shoulder against the rope felt..cold..instead of torn apart. Straining his neck, he glanced down at the highway.  
A reflective blue surface greeted his eyes. Glancing up, he saw Touya, gritting his teeth with effort, kneeling on the lower ramp, pressing his hand through the sparks and barely holding it above the racing road. That same road that froze under his fingers, barely three feet across. He saw the strain ease as the former Itchigaki fighters placed their hands on Touya's shoulders, adding their effort to his own. Grunting, Chu and Yusuke took hold of the makeshift rope, and pulled the prima donna over the slick alley and onto the van.  
"Nice skiing." Yusuke complimented him, "But I think I'm well enough to take the last one." Standing as his full height, his fingers stretched out, pointing grimly at the last car.  
"You want my spirit gun, here it is!"  
  
***  
  
"This is unacceptable, Matthews!" Avery raged, pounding his deck with his hands, "Our most promising sources, snuck out of this very base by a punk kid and his friends! This base that you PROMISED was impregnable to those types of freaks!"  
"They couldn't use their powers while at the base." Matthews pointed out reasonably, "The technology worked perfectly well. We simply weren't prepared for a physical infiltration like that. It seems they have some competent hacker support."  
"No doubt the group that you incompletely disposed of last time." Avery raged, "Making the subject's group even stronger then it already is! And we've lost an APC, three jeeps, half a dozen men, and smashed up half of the freeway to the east! And you weren't even on base, you and the rest of the group that might have been able to stop them! Where were you?"  
"Capitalizing on a business venture." Matthews said easily, ignoring the rant and seating himself on the edge of the ivory deck, "One that could easily pay great dividends under the new leadership here on base." Slowly, almost casually, he screwed a silencer onto the edge of his pistol.  
"New leade-..Matthews.don't do anything stupi-." The first two bullets impacted with parade ground precision, directly across from each other on the right and left side of the chest, leveled equally as though with a ruler. The third silencer blast, hardly louder then a man snapping his fingers, created a red dot in the center of old man's forehead, and the fresh corpse collapsed backward into his seat. Ignoring the dripping of blood onto shining tile, Matthew's turned around, cleaning his smoking pistol with a handkerchief.  
"My only mistake was not doing this sooner." He muttered quietly, then smiled at the brighter eyed Mason and the silent Strife, both member of Skull Squadron who had accompanied him, and were, moreover, loyal to him personally.  
"The commander was assassinated by the terrorists we've been chasing. You two were on duty, and lightly injured in the scuffle, but the attacks broke off and are escaping to the east. Make it so."  
Not even acknowledging their salutes, he swept from the room. 


	25. Chapter 19: Split Decision

Chapter 19: Split Decision  
  
Ama gently rubbed the temples of his pounding head, and tried to concentrate on keeping his stomach under control. For a moment his vision dimmed, and then the spotless computer room snapped back into crystal clear focus. Giving his head a little shake to try and clear it, he tried to concentrate on the 'All clear' reports coming in, and tried to think. Being knocked unconscious certainly hadn't helped conserve his energy from the damned leeching machine at the base. Without being able to draw in energy, what he had was quickly growing stagnant and unhealthy. He'd barely convinced a doctor he was well enough for service after being pistol whipped by the 'intruder' but the incident had left him with a headache he couldn't seem to shake.  
His eyes shifted to his watch. Fifteen minutes until his shift ended, and he had requested some leave time. As much as he hated leaving the base while it was still a danger, he doubt Kaze and Klick would try another attack so soon after rescuing most of the prisoners (he still didn't know why Yukina went missing, she wasn't with the group that escaped. Odd) and, besides, he needed to make his report to Koenma. The computer keyboard blurred, and nearly separated in two before his managed to keep his eyes focused again.  
"And, more importantly, I'm hardly doing anyone any good this way." He whispered quietly to himself. Without warning, the sirens went off, ear-splitting noise accompanied by flashing red warning lights. For a moment, Ama could do nothing except hold his hands over his ears, nearly screaming as the noise pushed his nerves to the limit. By sheer force of will, his fingers moved to the keyboard and tapped in the command, shutting the sirens in the immediate vicinity off. He glanced at the screen, trying to make sense of the suddenly jumbled reports demanding orders. Behind him, other computers were switching on, responding automatically to the emergency status and awaiting the techs that were, he knew, even now on their way to assist with the deployment. SOP stated that the tech on duty would be relieved, ensuring that a fresh crew was ready to deal with the situation.  
Which meant that he had precious little time to get a fix on the situation and alter anything that needed to be altered. His eyes caught on a line of code, colored red to indicate a priority message. He blinked twice, certain that his eyes were playing tricks on him, and read it again.  
  
'Commander has been assassinated. Intruders remain within premises, possible connected with previous infiltration of faculty.'  
Assassinated? Why on earth would they break into the base again, and kill Avery of all people? Yes, he was the nominal head of the development, but killing him off wouldn't slow the program down at all.  
Forcing himself to focus on the immediate problem instead of the unexplained questions, he called up a map of the base, mumbling to himself as he looked for the point Klick or Kaze would have marked as an exit. Nearly passing it over in his haste, his eyes snagged on a small segment to the north side, a partially hidden service exit beneath the camera overhang, out of sight of the cameras and hidden in darkness from the security. Furthermore, it was only a short dash to the edge of the fence around that side, and nothing but tall grass beyond to the abandoned airport in the distance.  
"That's gotta be it." He exclaimed, and then started madly tapping at the keys, altering security protocol and slicing a fake message into the system. As the beeping noise outside the heavy door alerted him to the arrival of the first of the techs, he picked up the microphone and made an open broadcast to the scrambling guards.  
"Intruders located on service route A-3." He said clearly, using the impartial announcement voice that control techs always did, "Primary anti-intruder forces, proceed to location to intercept. Secondary forces please secure adjacent passageways to prevent escape." The A-3 corridor was at the very southern tip, sending the guards as far away from his friend's exit as he could manage.  
Behind him, the door opened and the trio of computer people rapidly sat down in front of the screen, picking up the headsets and calling down the clans on the 'intruders', but, hopefully, far away from the real trouble. As a new man usurped his chair and keyboard, he slunk out of the center unnoticed.  
"Well, I did everything I could." He whispered quietly, as the door hissed shut behind him.  
  
***  
  
Matthews' head snapped up, listening to the reports coming in. A reported sighting had sent most of the base's forces to the south wall, and that immediately made him suspicious. He knew there were no such intruders, having killed Avery himself. Conceivably, one of the guards could have thought they'd seen something, and overreacted, but his gut told him that wasn't it. But if not an overreacting guard, then what was going on?  
Abruptly, he had it. The one who had announced it, Ama had transferred in from an outlying base shortly after they had cracked down on the group of hackers Peterson had known and told about the project. A group of hackers that have subsequently eluded all attempts to locate or capture. Shortly after that break in, a computer technician requests a transfer to the base, a tech with perfect records and a skill set well equipped to handling anti-splicing, hacking, and coordination. Hacker. Ama.  
"Son of a bitch!" Matthews burst out, slamming his hands down on his desk. Standing quickly enough to send his office chair into the wall, he covered the distance to the door in three quick strides, checking the safety on his pistol as he did so.  
"Let's see how skilled he is in the real world."  
  
***  
  
"Hiei, calm down."  
"I am completely calm, Foxboy!"  
"Just sit down Hiei, Calm yourself. Think about this for a moment."  
"I've thought about this enough, I know PRECISELY what I'm doing."  
"You're hurting him."  
"That IS the idea."  
Meanwhile, the object of their conversation kicked his feet once or twice as he futilely attempted to catch his breath. He could kick his feet because they remained suspended a few inches over the ground where they would normally rest. He was attempting to get his breath because he was barely managing enough air to keep him conscious. He was attempting futilely because Hiei's hands were locked tightly around his throat. Needless to say, the former Saint Beast Leader had seen better days.  
"And...exactly...why am I...the one...you feel...you need...to hurt?" Suzaku managed, locking his hands into Hiei's fingers and prying the iron grip away from his windpipe. The former demon's fingers didn't open a whole lot, but enough to suck in some air, "In case you hadn't noticed, there were a few people on the team to rescue you, and we all failed to find your sister. Kuwabara's been nearly running up the wall to prepare to try again, though of course he doesn't know her relation to you."  
Hiei blinked in surprise, nearly dropping the man, "And exactly how, may I ask, do you know about it, Saint Beast?" Suzaku's eyes flicked to Kurama, then resettled on Hiei apologetically,  
"When I captured Kurama those days ago.." Had it truly been so little time, it felt longer.. "When I captured him, I touched his mind to close off his Spirit Energy. A trick I picked up in my recuperation, but a dangerous one. One of the side effects is a smattering of tiny pieces of information from memory, of which that is one."  
"As he touched my mind, so did I touch his. If I had not, I would never have believed his intentions benign." Kurama added softly. Hiei suppressed an uncharacteristic flash of jealousy, and let go of Suzaku all at once, nearly causing the Yokai to stumble when his feet touched the ground. Taking a deep breath, Hiei turned away from the two of them, forcing himself to calm down. He'd allowed his temper far too much reign since his..humanization month ago, and it was about time to change that.  
"Hiei.." The three demi-humans turned to the door, surprised to find the soft voice belonging to Yusuke. Kurama glanced at the sorrowful expression on Urameshi's face, then flicked his eyes to the other youth, Kuwabara, whose eyes held only blind hatred, nearly forcing the ancient thief back a step. Slowly, Yusuke extended a small package, a brown postage box found in abundance almost anywhere. Gingerly, fighting down a feeling or premonition in his gut, Hiei took the case and opened it.  
"There was a letter inside.. He wants you to meet him at the Docks, by six pm, which doesn't leave you much time."  
Hiei hardly heard him, staring within the box. The brown lid flicked briefly as the hand holding it shook slightly, and then firmed. The fire demon looked up, and the Dragon was behind his eyes, burning with a fury that drove the rest of them a few steps back in surprise.  
"I'll get there." Hiei promised softly, his voice subtly changed, like pouring gravel or a hissing flame, "And he'll regret my punctuality."  
The demon spirit let the box go, where it fell a slow path to the ground, impacting by one corner and sending its contents rolling over the floor. Pearls, perfect pearls, glistened over the floor, scattering to the edges of the square. Perfect pearls.  
Yukina's Tears.  
  
***  
  
"Yusuke!" A tiny voice shouted from his pocket, and he slowed marginally to search through it. Ahead of him, Hiei either didn't notice or didn't care, keeping up the relentless pace toward the Docks. Removing the pocket communicator from his pocket, he flipped it open and blinked at the close up image of Koenma's face, "Yusuke! You need to high-tail it back toward the base! The enemy has picked up on Ama, and have him pinned down over there!"  
"Oh give me a break!" Yusuke groaned, skidding to a halt, with Kurama, Kuwabara, Suzaku, Klick, and Kaze all stopping with him. Again, Hiei hardly noticed, but disappeared around a corner with amazing speed. Kaze leaned over, gripping the communicator and speaking to the image.  
"What happened to Ama?"  
"They discovered he's working for us. He was making a report to me, and he nearly got taken out as I watched. You need to go bail him out, he doesn't have much time!"  
"Well, Geez, we're a little busy Koenma! Hiei is going off half cocked about Yukina; we can't just abandon him either." Yusuke groaned, venting his annoyance on the image as he tried to puzzle his way through the problem.  
"Well we can't just leave Ama out to dry either, Spirit Detective!" Kaze exploded, take a step toward the youth before Klick put a restraining hand on his shoulder.  
"We can't abandon either." Klick pointed out reasonably, smoothing blue-green hair habitually, "That dictates that we split up. We will, of course, go to aid our brot-..ahem..our partner. But we might need help, depending on his condition." Kurama glanced at the two hackers slyly, with the expression of one working their way through a puzzle.  
"Can't we call some of the guys from Genkai's temple?" Kuwabara asked, "I mean, most of them are good in a fight, right?"  
"Too weak." Kurama answered quickly, shaking his head, "They were at that hellhole much longer then Hiei or I, and, in all honesty, we shouldn't be up and around ourselves."  
"Well, Yusuke and Suzaku can go save the computer whiz, and Kurama and me'll.."  
"No."  
Kuwabara glanced up as Suzaku crossed his hands over his chest, watching the youth with an unusual intensity, "No." he repeated, "You're too attached. You might cost her the only chance she has."  
"Why, you!" Kuwabara snarled, his hand blurring forward in a dizzying jab. The former Saint Beast didn't flinch, stepping around the blow and bringing his elbow down on the youth's unprotected back. Kuwabara grunted, falling to his knees and turning around with anger in his eyes.  
"You just proved my point." Suzaku muttered quietly, "I didn't need to use powers, just because you're too attached and easily provoked into rash action. Go with Yusuke."  
"Come on Kuwabara." Yusuke called. For a long moment, Kuwabara just stared, and then, reluctantly, started running with Yusuke toward the base. Suzaku turned, and blinked, suddenly confronted with Kurama's eyes, turned grey with the closeness of the Yoko half behind them.  
"You can't use your powers now, can you?"  
"No." Suzaku said quietly, dismissing his first impulse to lie, "Not since..that day."  
"I see." Kurama turned away, but the threat remained in his voice, "Know this. If she dies, Hiei will be hurt to his soul. I will kill anyone who would hurt him. If you cause her death, you will beg for the torture to end, and I will not grant your wish."  
"I won't let you down."  
"See that you don't. Let's go."  
  
***  
  
"Ama!" The mental projection nearly made Ama jump from behind his cover. Instead, he eased another look around dumpster he was using for cover, jerking his head back as the edge of the metal exploded with a rifle round. He cursed under his breath, that round had spirit energy behind it, which meant the sniper was God, which meant the rest of Guinness Squadron wouldn't be far behind.  
"I'm a little busy here!" He snarled, examining his options. There weren't many.  
"Look, Yusuke is on his way. You need to find a place that's farther from the residential area or people are going to be hurt!"  
"Yeah, sure! No problem! I can just move around whenever I want!" He hissed, not willing to risk another look around, God was simply too accurate for that. A stray thought crossed his mind; the abandoned air strip was only a little ways to the north, toward Genkai's temple. That would be ideal, but of course, there was a stretch without any cover at all between his dumpster at the alleyway in that direction. He glanced around, examining the pieces of trash nearest him. In the movies, he would find something to create a distraction, maybe a rock and a tin can he could throw. Or maybe he could just stand up and shout 'look, it's Mel Brooks!' and stroll to the alleyway. But of course, this wasn't the movies.  
"Well, frag it. Time to run!"  
And he did. 


	26. Chapter 20: Split Hearts

Chapter 20: Split Hearts  
  
Ama ran, his head down, his body bent as he pumped his legs madly, fully prepared to go down directly onto his face if his legs failed to move fast enough. The ground tilted back and forth as he rushed from the dumpster toward the alleyway. He knew what would happen if the sniper, God, had expected the ploy, a quick shot would slam into his back, spinning him around and halting his rush, laying him flat on the ground, helpless against follow-ups. The alley loomed closer, and his own breathing sounded harshly in his ear, as he had never been good at meter dashes. The air cracked with the sound of a gunshot, and pain burned harshly on his right cheek as the bullet missed the back of his neck by inches and knocked a chunk of brick out of the wall about the size of a small dog. Panting, nearly stumbling with pain and fear, Ama ducked into the blessed cover, collapsing to the ground and putting his back against the wall. Gingerly, he touched his cheek and winced, glancing down at bloody fingers. A graze, maybe a scar, but nothing more. If that bullet had caught him squarely instead, the spirit energy behind it would have burned through him in no time.  
Of course, if they caught him, it would be a lot more then a graze. With a groan, he forced himself to his feet, and ran on.  
  
***  
  
"There are a lot of places to hide here." Suzaku pointed out, eyes taking in the nearly deserted dock. As sunset fell, the boats tied up to the docks were emptying and the shops along the wharf were closing down for the night, "Is all this truly necessary?"  
"Human endurance doesn't allow the option of swimming wherever they wish to go." Kurama commented reasonably, "And certainly not carrying items of trade with them. In a city of this size, there is a significant amount of demand for their services, though recent advances in air travel are beginning to hurt them. Perhaps that's why this place is so quiet."  
"No. It's an application of spirit energy...don't you feel the need to leave? I used a similar process to clear out the hospital before I made my wish...but I don't know how they would steal it..." Suzaku's face stood up quizzically in the fading light, "I have been seriously underestimating them."  
"We all have. Perhaps they simply discovered a similar method, rather then actually stealing-."  
"Enough talk." Hiei snapped. He turned to Suzaku, his face devoid of emotion, "You said you've used this technique before. Can you tell where it's coming from?"  
"It would take me a minute, but yes. I can."  
"Good. Do it."  
The former Saint Beast closed his eyes, clasping his hands together. Kurama, meanwhile, ran his fingers through his red hair, standing behind Hiei and laying a hand on the short Yokai's shoulder.  
"She'll be alright Hiei. Don't do this to yourself."  
"Do what, exactly?" Hiei intoned, reaching up and gently removing the hand from his shoulder.  
"Go back to the old way. You've made so much progress. Don't lose it all now."  
"I never lost her before I allowed myself to become human." Hiei muttered, turning away, his body language clearly announcing that the conversation was over. The three stood silently, the stiff ocean wind rustling their clothes as they remained motionless. After a time, Suzaku's eyes opened and the former Saint Beast stood quietly, pointing at a dilapidated building with boards over the windows.  
"Are you certain?" Kurama inquired gently, "With your problem it could-."  
"It does not extend to that." Suzaku muttered firmly, "I have all that I did before, it is extending it outside of myself that is the problem. That is the place."  
"Looks like a warehouse." Hiei commented softly, his voice a deadly whisper. Without waiting, he strode toward it, leading the other two.  
"Looks like it was converted in a restaurant before it was abandoned." Kurama mused quietly, "An Oyster bar. Obviously a sick sense of irony."  
"Hnh."  
  
***  
  
As Ama ducked around the corner, a sizable chunk of the wall exploded with a gunshot, sending countless bits of gravel and fragments into his eyes, stinging his cheek with the heat and irritating the wound all the more. Around him, doors slammed shut as residents decided they wanted no part of the gunfight on the street. Ama put his back to the wall, gasping for air as he tried to regain his breath. Judging by the size of the hole, the sniper was starting to put more energy into each blast, probably hoping to disable him with a lucky shot or a close miss. From the angle of attack, he knew where the sniper was, and was taking care to keep thick buildings between them, darting through open ground as quickly as possible. By moving upwards past the airport and then doubling back, he could present the sniper with tracking shots where the target moved from one side to the other quickly, the most difficult to land a hit on.  
Of course, if he sat here thinking about it long enough, whatever forces they were sending to back up the sniper would reach him, and then he would really be SOL. With a grunt, and one final gasp, he threw himself to his feet and continued on.  
"Come'on guys, I really need your help.."  
  
***  
  
The place was dusty and very very old. Paint colors that had once been bright shown sickly with brown dust in the hazy light. The fact that the door was boarded up hadn't slowed them at all, in fact it probably sped them up given that Hiei could slash down the door faster then he would open one, and the air was alive with dirt and the effects of time long undisturbed. Tiny spiders skittered out of the party's way as the dim light invaded their home for nearly the first time.  
"I think it's safe to assume this place hasn't seen human occupation in a while." Suzaku noted, looking over the dusty table top and the broken mirror behind it, "Not for a few years at least."  
"Obviously." Kurama responded, "The question is, where is our enemy hidi-."  
"Can I get you gents something?" A soft voice asked from behind. All three apparitions jumped despite themselves, Hiei's sword becoming a silver blur that arced toward the noise and completed its swing before the other two demons had managed to turn themselves around. The owner of the voice blinked quizzically at them, a buxom young girl filling out a waitress uniform and carrying a notepad. Hiei slowly extended his sword, passing it through the girl's torso without visible effect, as if she were made of smoke.  
"An illusion." The demon sniffed, sliding his sword back into his scabbard with a half uttered growl.  
"A lot of illusions." Kurama corrected gently, looking around in surprise. What had before been a deserted restaurant was now bustling with life. Every table was packed with people, and pretty young waitresses hurried from table to table to take orders and offer steaming plates of food. The cracked mirror behind the counter was whole once more, shining with multicolored lights and sending reflections of light cascading over clean glasses tabletops. At the bar, a man with an unruly mop of brown hair stood, and turned toward them. His brown skin clearly showed some middle- eastern ancestry, though his eyes belayed his Asian origins. His jumpsuit was nondescript, and darkly black. They had met him once before, when Hiei, Kurama, and Yukina had been captured, and it had been his name on the message.  
"Ah, Specialist Fortune. Isn't that what Blaze called you?" Suzaku put in, being the only one still conscious for the final round of introduction on that night.  
"You remember well enough." Fortune smiled, an irritating smile that was almost a baring of fangs, "And don't bother getting your sword out, demon, I wouldn't be stupid enough to come out here personally."  
"Another one of your illusions, I see." Kurama growled harshly, and Suzaku blinked in surprise at the anger on the Kitsune's face, "I must say, recreating a scene like this hardly requires artistic talent, Much the same as copying someone's face is hardly an impressive skill."  
"Ah, still angry about my stabbing your boy there?" Fortune grinned, chuckling under his breath, "Forgive me, I guess that's supposed to be a secret, but I guess we all know it anyway. Regardless, if you want to see the ice bitch again, you're going to have to play my game for a while."  
"Of course, you realize that once we finish this, your life is forfeit." Hiei put in darkly, watching the man with wary eyes. With a theatric wave of his hand, Fortune gestured to three doors that, literally, appeared out of nowhere against the far wall.  
"No sense playing when there's nothing on the line." He grinned annoyingly, "You see before you three different doors. They all lead eventually to the place where the prize is. Of course, I'm not going to make it easy for you, and I absolutely must insist that only one demon take each door, which, coincidentally, leaves one for each of you. Now then, I'll see you at the end." With a waver, Fortune vanished, leaving the room as bare and lifeless as when they had entered. For a moment no one moved, and then Hiei crossed to the first of the doors.  
  
***  
  
Hiei strode down the dark corridor, trying to bring his shattering anger under control. He could sense Yukina nearby, but he could not pinpoint it precisely, and that irritated him. He was more then happy to be on his own, he didn't want Kurama or that damned Saint Beast to take his revenge for him, he had promised himself to make the man responsible pay, and he would. Almost before he realized it was there, he came open a wooden door blocking the corridor. He considering opening it slowly then dismissed the idea and kicked it off its hinges with his boot. As the wood splintered and fell aside, he smiled to himself, envisioning Fortune instead of the door. A kick like that would send the human to the Spirit World for certain. Pushing what remained of the door aside, he took a long step into the room.  
The room was round and large, at least forty feet long and circular. The floor space was uncluttered with furniture, and the ground was covered with light padding, as a dojo might be. Along the walls, torches were liberally placed, and all were lit, casting sufficient light over the whole of the room. Directly across from him, a steel door reflected the light dimly. The only other two things in the room was the large clock above the steel door, clicking away the seconds loudly, and the man standing within the circle at the center.  
Blond hair tied into a ponytail, the man bounced on the balls of his feet rhythmically, holding a heavy rapier loosely in his right hand. From the way the man moved, he knew that the sword was not merely a decoration; the man knew what he was doing. As Fortune, they had met him only once before, at the same time. Hiei, however, was conscious for that encounter.  
"Conner Boone." He nodded quietly, never taking his eyes of Boone's, or releasing his grip on his katana, "Am I to imagine that your job is to prevent me from crossing the room."  
"Hiei." Boone nodded back, rolling his shoulders to loosen them up, "You imagine correctly. I must say, I've been looking forward to seeing exactly what you can do."  
No further words were exchanged, as none were needed. The two men eyed each other cautiously, waiting for the telltale tightening of the eyes or tensing of the muscles that would signal a sudden rush. They stood silently, warriors facing off in a battle of concentration and focus. On the wall, the second hand of the clock completed its journey, and the hour hand snapped cleanly onto the six. In a blur of motion, Boone rushed forward, his rapier whistling with the promise of death. A quick trio of jabs were twisted aside by the katana, and the counter attack began. The rapier was a lighter weapon, but Boone twisted his wrist at the hilt, intercepting the blade with his own, taking the power out of the swing before bringing it to a halt. The two swords rang shrilly as they bounced off each other, Hiei's quick slashes parried expertly by a master swordsman.  
As the duelist began a furious barrage of overhead blows, Hiei extended his foot forward, entwining his boot around Boone's heel and pulling sharply, hoping to throw the other off balance. Boone, his face impassive, quickly leapt upwards on his good foot, impacting the center of Hiei's chest with a high kick that knocked the wind out of the short demon. Using the momentum from the kick, Boone completed a full back flip and nearly disabled Hiei with a quick slash from an uncertain stance, barely blocked by the Katana blade. Hiei, taking advantage of the lapse, pressed forward, driving the man back with six strokes, all parried, before his opponent regained his footing, and jumped back a half foot.  
The two eyed each other warily, and Hiei glanced over at the clock on the wall. Five seconds past six o clock. Not bad. Spinning his sword with blinding speed, Hiei charged his enemy.  
  
***  
  
Kurama continued down the hall, glancing at the walls, trying to catch any imperfection that would signal a poorly made illusion. Nervously, his fingers played with a seed held in the palm of his hand. Those who relied on trickery seldom fought directly, but at least it made him feel better. His slow and cautious approach was brought up short by a wide drop- off in the ground. The hole trailed off into inky darkness and seemed quite deep. Kneeling, Kurama put his hand out into the hole...  
And encountered a hard surface, consistent with the flooring he had been walking on. Kurama sighed to himself; clearly Fortune's talent only extended to senses other then touch, true illusions. A few prods of the foot, and Kurama was over the non-existent hurdle. The Kitsune continued down the path, passing over a similar illusion in much the same way.  
"No doubt the first two are here to lull one into a false sense of security." Kurama mused to himself, "So the third one is likely real, spilling an overconfident foe into whatever unpleasantness is at the bottom." And, sure enough, Kurama came upon a third hole in the hall, and strode toward it quickly, preparing to check it physically before crossing.  
  
And unexpectedly, at least four feet from the hole, his foot passed through the floor without resistance.  
Kurama snarled something vile under his breath as he fell forward, the trap snapping into place in his mind. If illusions could make the floor appear to be a hole, it could make a hole appear to be solid flooring, keeping one's attention on the illusionary hole beyond it rather then thinking about the floor in front of them. The seed in his hand sprouted, arcing upward as he fell, eyes casting around desperately for something to hold onto. His eyes snagged on a projection off the left side of the wall, and the growing plant stretched towards it, barely reaching it...  
...and passed through the illusion cleanly, catching on nothing. Kurama didn't have time to even be impressed by the well-thought out trap before his head impacted against something hard. The world faded to black, and he tumbled through the air. .  
  
***  
  
Suzaku listened to his shoes echo loudly on the metal flooring as he strode down his hallway. He didn't like being split up, not while the powers were failing him, and certainly not while he couldn't trust anything he saw for reality. The former Saint Beast crept down the hall carefully, ready to react instantly if something happened unexpectedly.  
But nothing did. The hallway seemed to stretch on endlessly, each stretch exactly the same cold, impartial walk as the one before it. Suzaku was nearly to the point of being prepared to walk backwards a step to ensure that he WAS in fact actually covering any ground, when the hall opened up into a room.  
The room was of medium width, duplicating the dimensions of the restaurants front room that was on the other end of the hall. Chairs were scattered around, almost at random, and several sections of the wall seemed damaged or scorched with some sort of marking. Suzaku stiffened, halfway inside the room, as he slowly took in the room and realized that he was not alone. Sitting at the north half of the room, three shapes loomed darkly in the inky blackness, one thin, one muscular, and one incredibly large. Suzaku probed them with his spirit energy, the group was so familiar..  
The former demon gasped, his mind refusing to accept the facts. It couldn't be...  
"Well. If it isn't our wayward 'leader'." Seiryu scoffed, lighting the candle on the table, and illuminating the three demons faces, "We've been waiting for you... 'sir'."  
  
***  
  
"What did you say?" Boone panted, holding his rapier in a ready position. The two fighters were both breathing heavily, and the floor was marked heavily with imprints and cuts of weapons gone astray, as were the walls. In one corner, a torch had been cut free from its support, and smoldered quietly against the apparently flame retardant padding.  
"I said, I have a hard time believing a bunch of kidnappers managed to receive your service." Hiei hissed quietly, face dripping with sweat.  
"Your friends are all fighters, dangerous to the world and the innocents. I hardly consider it kidnapping to keep them restrained."  
"And your bargaining chip? She's not fighter, what gives you the right to threaten to kill her, to get a me?!" Hiei demanded, his voice rising in pitch, "She's never raised a hand or a voice to anyone, and probably never will, and you people use her in this sick little game."  
"I see. Well, you are right." Boone smiled thinly, sliding his sword into the sheath and turning around unconcernedly, "I don't support kidnapping willingly. If that's what this is about, go get your friend. I've waited my entire life for a worth opponent, and when we fight I don't want you to have any distractions, understand?"  
"Yeah. I understand." Hiei conceded grudgingly, putting his katana away, "Of course, I could be lying to you."  
"You aren't. I can see it in your eyes."  
"Hnh."  
Boone stopped at the door back into the hall, calling over his shoulder,  
"Just make sure you keep in shape. Next time we fight, it's to the death, got it?"  
"Wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
***  
  
Come on Ama, One last run  
With a burst of speed, the hacker sprinted across the last opening between him and the airport. Silently, he prayed that the sniper would not prove as good as he had claimed to be, and miss just one more time. The harsh crack of the gunshot made him stiffen, certain that his luck had run out. But he cleared the edge of the wall, and collapsed against the airport building, which creaked threateningly, unharmed and nearly unscathed. Yusuke and the others would be there shortly, and they would be able to take care of the sniper and whoever else was following him. Laughing nervously, releasing the pent up stress of the life and death situation, he extended his senses to find the sniper. He wanted to feel the man's consternation when he realized that was his last chance to stop Ama.  
His mental energies extended out behind him, searching until he found the menacing presence of the sniper. His enemy was nearly a hundred yards away to the south, on top of a tall building overlooking most of the area. The energy that he used was...strange...like it wasn't supposed to be used that way. Smug anticipation colored the aura, until it...  
Suddenly vanished completely. Reeling in surprise, Ama stretched out his senses again, searching madly for the sniper. His mind snagged on the sense of presence, zeroing in on the hostility it emanated. Fifty yards to the north..  
"That's not possible!" Ama exclaimed, snapping his head around toward the north and beginning the first step toward cover. Dimly, he felt something impact against the upper part of his left shoulder, and something warm splatter across his face. And then, pure pain. The youthful hacker screamed, his legs dropping out from under him, dumping him against the wall sprayed with his blood, and dropping him to the floor. Ama fell against the wall, ending up lying against it fully, with only his head propped up by the wall itself. Bright arterial blood oozed redly onto the cement, and he detachedly noticed his arm lying a foot or two away.  
"I'm sorry...Koenma...I.....tried...."  
  
***  
  
"Ah, Hiei, good of you to join me." Fortune called over his shoulder as the short demon entered the room, "And no, I'm not really here, before you start flaying around with your little toy."  
"I passed your swordsman." Hiei snarled shortly, "Give me my...my associate."  
"Your sister, actually." Fortune correctly knowingly, "And all in due time, all in due time. All you have to do for your sister in make a choice...Romeo's choice.."  
"What choice?" Hiei demanded. Fortune grinned vilely, and clapped his hands. Two spotlights sprang into existence, and Hiei's eyes narrowed. One of them illuminated Yukina, bound with heavy cord and gagged with a scrap of cloth. The other lit up a small area of floor, and the similarly bound Kurama, unconscious with a thin stream of blood running between his red hairs.  
"Romeo's choice, my dear boy, as I said." Fortune intoned, raising his hands, "Love or Family. One of them dies, the other lives free. Their lives are in your hands."  
"Now choose." 


	27. Chapter 21: Split Loyalties

Chapter 21: Split Loyalties  
  
Ama blinked, trying to keep his mind focused as his life blood poured out onto the cold ground. The night was closing in, and the last traces of natural light had receded. His blood seemed black in the pale lights that sporadically illuminated parts of the airport runway, most of which were broken by Time long ago, but a small handful of them continued to throw a faded glow into the dark night. A slow, precise footstep, like a dress shoe on cold tile, drew Ama's attention to his right. A silhouette picked its way carefully across the road, striding with a calculated determination that left no doubt as to the identity of the walker, though the man's face was lost in the darkness. As the shape reached the pool of lamp light Ama was laying in, and stepped over the pool of blood he was producing, Ama recognized the face along with the name.  
"Blaze...Never thought you'd be the one to finish off...an injured man in cold blood..." The youthful hacker commented sarcastically, his face pale white from fear and blood loss, "Have all those...injections dulled your sense of...honor that much?"  
"Honor. Like you can talk to me about honor." Guinness Squadron's commander lit up a cigarette, bathing his face in red light from the lighter, "You lied to us. You're a spy. You've sold your soul to the demons, betrayed your whole species for the chance to gain dominance for yourself. What does a...thing...like you know of honor?"  
"I know that it...doesn't include tracking down noncombatants and...murdering them." Ama lifted his chin defiantly, pushing himself up with his good hand, arriving at an almost sitting position, "Human or Demon, that's a cowardly act."  
"That's why I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself." Blaze said quietly, and Ama's eyes flicked up in disbelief. The JSDF soldier squatted near him, his knee inches away from the spreading blood, "We'll let you go, even heal your arm, no string attached. We won't let you go back to the enemy, but other then that, there are no limitations."  
"What's the..catch, soldier boy?"  
"Nothing beyond you, spy." Blaze's smile was thin in the pale moonlight as he puffed on his cigarette. "You know all about our enemy, and we want to. All you have to do is tell us what we want to know...start talking."  
Amakaze glanced up at the cold eyes, and out into the night, where he knew the Sniper still lurked. His voice, when it came, was almost too quiet to hear, and shaky,  
"What do you want to know...?"  
  
***  
  
"Come now Hiei, surely you're not stuck with a simple choice." Fortune reclined languidly on a large chair, toying idly with an ornamental dagger, "This cannot be the quick and decisive demon I've heard so much about."  
"I was considering my options, fool." Hiei said sourly, his sword held loosely in his right hand, "And I don't think I like them very much, so I think I'll make myself a new one." With impossible speed, the short demon rushed forward, his katana snapping up into a ready position from the off guard, sweeping down with lightening speed through Fortune's neck.  
Hiei nearly stumbled as the blade swept through without resistance, causing him to take an extra step to remain upright. With a growl, he turned back to the illusionist.  
"Oh, naughty boy." Fortune intoned, chuckling wickedly, "You didn't think I would be stupid enough to actually BE here, did you? You vastly underestimate me."  
"This is just another one of your illusions. So are both of them." Hiei snarled, nodding his head at the bound forms, "You probably don't even have them."  
"Oh, I have them. And I assure you I will kill one of them, and let the one you choose go." Fortune promised, cleaning his fingernail with the dagger, "I'm just not foolish enough to put them in a place where you can save them both. I do have them, but not here. No chance for you to go off along and rescue them...quite the dilemma for someone like you, eh Hiei? Just make a choice."  
The short demon was silent.  
  
***  
  
"C-can't be..." Suzaku whispered, taking a half step back in surprise, gazing at the three Saint Beasts in astonishment, "You're...You're just illusions."  
"Oh, is that what you think?" Seiryuu mocked, taking several long steps until he was standing directly in front of his former leader. Suzaku, tall as he was, needed to look up at the large Ice Dragon. Without warning, Seiryuu unleashed a heavy blow at Suzaku's face. Without thinking, Suzaku lifted his hand to block, contacting solidly with the punch and forcing it aside, away from him. His mind caught up with him, and he blinked confusedly.  
"You ARE real.." Suzaku's mind reeled, and his footing was suddenly unstable as the stone ground swirled below him. Suddenly, a stone tail erupted from the earth, catching the distracted Suzaku by surprise, and slamming into his stomach, tearing through his shirt and sprawling him back on the stones.  
"Yes, we're very real." Byakko snarled, driving his huge foot down hard onto Suzaku's stomach, driving the air out of him with a grunt, "And we have a few bones to pick with you.."  
"What are you-." Suzaku began, but his voice cut off as stone arms emerged from the ground wrapped around his, slamming him back onto the earth as solidly as though he were chained to it.  
"Silence!" Seiryuu barked, driving a leg down on the demon's chest, "You're no longer even worthy to speak to us! How dare you defile yourself like this! You mock our sacrifice by becoming a human! One of those cattle!"  
"You don't...understand.." Suzaku slumped against the floor, spitting blood to the side, "I...needed to understand...how I lost..."  
"Hardly!" Byakko's exclamation was the only warning before the clawed foot impacted against his chin, slicing painful and snapping his head to the side, "You're not trying to learn about these human emotions, you're falling apart! You're as pathetic as those cattle we used in our assault! You're not longer worthy to lead us. We'll kill you and the other two demons, and restore our-."  
"Like hell you will!" Suzaku's foot snapped up, catching the tiger under the chin and knocking him back. As the tiger stumbled back, Suzaku blinked, as a stray thought caught up with him. His arms were caught solidly by Genbu arms, and he could have sworn his legs were held by the Stone Beast's tail. Glancing down, he saw that his left foot still was...which meant...  
Suddenly, he understood. And with understanding came rage. The moment he'd forgotten about it, it had ceased to affect him. It was just an illusion, and illusion he could feel, but an illusion none the less. With a growl, he stood, ignoring the illusion of Genbu, and thereby passing through it. His shirt, broken by the blows, mended itself as he recognized the truth, and the aches and pains faded. Seiryuu and Byakko stepped back, turning transparent as his knowledge grew. Suzaku's energy crackled around him, a miniature thunderstorm framing his glowing eyes. He felt the wall that had prevented him from using his techniques, and that only made him angrier. The limitation faded, just as much of an illusion as the ghostly Saint Beasts, if of a different origin, and his power was unleashed.  
With a scream, the room erupted with lightening.  
  
***  
  
The ground shook under them, a tremor through the entirety of the building. Plaster cracked and trickled down the walls. Fortune glanced up, a stray piece of the ceiling passing through him and the illusionary Kurama and Yukina. Hiei smirked slightly at the illusionist.  
"A problem, doppelganger?" The short former demon snarled, "If you'll excuse the expression, your plan is beginning to fall down around your ears. Surrender now and I'll make your death less painful."  
"A lovely offer, but I'll pass." Fortune snapped, shrugging with a show of indifference, "It makes no difference. I still have both of your loves lives in my hand! You just won't have so long to choose is all. You're trying my patience."  
"You really should have taken my offer. You won't get another chance."  
"Don't you understand you nitwit!" Fortune raged, his brow beginning to sweat, "I'm the one who has control here, not you! I'm the one who gives the threats, not you! I'm the one who-."  
"Has lost his bargaining chips." A voice said from behind. Fortune spun, taking a step back with chagrin. Suzaku, from the door behind, smiled insultingly. Over his shoulder, Kurama's eyes were glinting dangerously, and Yukina hovered near the doorway, "You underestimated us. I would have thought you, of all people, would have learned that what seems real can turn out to be just an illusion...like control."  
"It's not possible..." Fortune whispered, and then twitched his face into a smirk, "Well, so what! You saved them, this time. But you don't know where I really am! I'll just keep coming after you, until you're finally-."  
  
"You're wrong." Hiei said quietly. Abruptly the short swordsman spun, yanking his katana out of his sheath in a smooth motion, and thrusting it out, "I know where you are." The sword jerked once in the air, and end was suddenly coated with crimson. Fortune and the two bound forms faded into nothingness as Hiei pulled his sword back. The empty air twisted, and Fortune reappeared, clutching his stomach as blood poured between his fingers. Unable to hold himself up, he fell back into a sitting position.  
"How..How did you know where I'd be..." Fortune managed, the edge of his mouth leaking a thin stream of blood, "N-No one has ever broken m-my illusions.."  
"Simple you fool. I knew you would want to be here to see this personally, rather then let an illusion handle it, so I knew you'd be somewhere nearby. And a man like you always wants to be in the center of attention...at the very center of the room." The sword leveled at his throat,  
  
"As I said, you should have taken my offer."  
  
***  
  
"Blaze?" Ama said quietly, still clutching at the stump of his left arm. The blood loss was slowing down, though that was probably not a good thing.  
"Yeah, something you want to tell me?" The older man said, taking a puff on his cigarette.  
"Go to hell."  
"Sorry you feel that way." Slowly, with regret, Blaze raised his pistol into firing position; pulling back the firing stud with a chilling click, "Know that I take no pleasure in this."  
"Hold it right there."  
Blaze spun snapping the gun into ready position but holding his fire until he knew who he was up against. On the far side of the runway, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the remaining two members of Asterisk were running full tilt toward them. Covering the ground quickly, Yusuke was the first one to stop, only a handful of meters from Blaze and Ama.  
"Stop messing around with the injured so I can kick your ass!" The youth shouted, his knees bending as he dropped into combat crouch. The air crackled with gathering spirit energy as Yusuke Urameshi, champion of the Dark Tournament, lost control of his temper.  
"I see." Blaze said, lowering the pistol slightly and flashing a quick smile, so small and brief as to hardly register, "I'm afraid you're underestimating me. You won't be able to beat me, Mr. Urameshi."  
"Well, I can sure as hell put up a better fight then he can! You're not the only one who thought they were stronger then me, and you won't be the last!"  
"I'm sorry Yusuke, you're wrong on both counts. He's telling the truth this time."  
Blaze, surprised by another voice behind him, was turned around with a ready gun in the blink of an eye. Every eye was on the newcomer, who stepped slowly into the pool of light, eyes glittering. Unsurprisingly, it was Yusuke who found his voice.  
"Koenma!?"  
"Indeed." Koenma's disguised face turned slightly, watching as Klick and Kaze lifted their bleeding comrade to his feet, "This one will require a somewhat unique approach. Yusuke Urameshi, Meet some of your predecessors. The Spirit Detectives of the past."  
  
***  
  
"Y-you haven't won y-yet..." Fortune blustered, sliding backward until his back touched the stone wall, "N-not by a long shot..."  
"I disagree, Illusionist." Hiei drawled calmly, advancing implacably on the bleeding man, "You're outnumbered, Your illusions have been broken, your leverage stripped from you, and your powers weakened. Your plans have been usurped, and you have nowhere to run."  
"You've hardened the hearts of your enemies against you.." Kurama added, his eyes glaring daggers from behind the shorter demon, the thin streams of blood from the wall matting his hair and making him appear wild and even savage. Yoko danced in those eyes.  
"And you've made them stronger still; with powers you can no longer control." Suzaku finished quietly, his hand lifting slowly, holding a ball of orange lightning before him, "You've lost, and the price of failure is death, Fortune."  
"No. Not yet." Hiei snapped, his sword halting before the other two Former demon's chests, their angry eyes puzzled at his restraint. The Fire apparition knelt, grabbing the man by his bloody collar, and pulled the man up until he was nose to nose with him, so that Fortune could see the literal fire behind the demon's eyes, "Tell us everything you know about our enemies, and I'll let you walk of here....though if I see you again, I'll rip your heart out of your chest, understand?"  
Fortune stared at him a moment, and then he began to chuckle, a sound that quickly built up into a maniacal spiel of laughter. The high pitched laughter echoed around the chamber, a sound that proved one thing for certain; Fortune had gone completely insane. Hiei's mouth curled in a grimace, and he pressed his sword forward, intending to end the laughter permanently.  
It didn't happen that way. Hiei's katana had traveled only half the distance when the hardened demon was abruptly flying backward, too quickly to recover from, and slammed crushingly against the stone wall. Kurama's eyes snapped from Hiei back to Fortune, and gasped.  
Fortune was on his feet, surrounding by a swirling wind that howled cutting, picking up small bits of broken stone in a whirlwind of flashing color. Blue lightening, as thick a poles, snaked around the man's body as he screamed, the sound reverberating through the room like a bomb, blowing out the solitary window and cracking the floor under his feet. Fortune's eyes disappeared with blue light, even his mouth shining like a spotlight.  
"Is that spirit energy?!" Suzaku gaped, holding his arms in front of his eyes as the room shone with light, the wind wiping his hair around with its violence. The room was shaking with contained power, and the former Saint Beast retreated a few steps without realizing it.  
"It's too much power!" Kurama's screamed into the wind, his red hair in disarray with the intense wind, "No human could possibly handle that much! No apparition could handle that much!"  
"Hiei!" Fortune shouted, his voice ablaze with energy and pain, "With my last breath, I destroy you! I destroy your soul!" His finger leveled, not at Hiei, but at Yukina, who cowered against the wall, "Now suffer!" The voice rose beyond the register of sound as the energy was ejected, running through the human body and burning as it emerged, arching toward the Ice Apparition, Hiei's sister.  
"Yukina!" Hiei was on his feet, running before the attack, enfolding his sister protectively, and turning his back to his death. He closed his eyes, expecting with every ounce of his being instant annihilation. There was a thunderous crash, but, oddly, no pain. His eyes opened, and he turned, squinting against the light, "Kurama!"  
The fox spirit stood over the brother and sister, his hand held up, exerting every ounce of his force on the energy inexorably bearing his backward, his feet carving slants in the floor, "Hiei, Run!"  
"I won't let you die for me, Kurama!"  
"Save Yukina! Save yourself! I can't hold this much longer!"  
"I won't! Kurama!"  
From the left, a cry drew Hiei's attention. Suzaku, screaming, fist ablaze with what seemed, comparatively, to be a paltry ball of energy. He charged in from the side, rushing the deadly energy held at bay by Kurama's shield. As his mouth opened to protest, Suzaku was already acting, extending his fist and hitting the ball squarely. The form that was Suzaku went black as light exploded in the room, and disintegrated into nothingness, even as Hiei closed his eyes against the light.  
  
***  
  
The room was still smoking, the walls blackened and the window devoid of even glass shards. The floor was cracked, and rocks were still settling through the gaping hole where there had once been a solid stone wall. Carefully, gingerly, Kurama nudged the black skeleton at the place where Fortune has stood, and what had was formerly a human madman crumbled into ashes. Hiei picked himself up off the burned ground, checking on Yukina quickly. The gentle girl has fainted, but did not otherwise seem severely hurt. Picking his way across the floor, he stopped behind Kurama.  
"Suzaku...did he...?"  
"Deflected the blast." Kurama told him tonelessly, and Hiei knew this was a way of killing pain, detaching from the situation. The Kitsune glanced at the hole in the wall, and reflected that, were the dock not abandoned, there would be some commotion about the destruction of the warehouse next door, "It let us survive, but he took some backlash...there's nothing left..."  
"I see..." Hiei digested this for a minute in silence, unsure of how to react. The two stood quietly then, unwilling to leave the crumbling room of destruction just yet. Beside him, Kurama glanced of his shoulder, and made a short sound, an intake of surprised breath. Hiei snapped his sword up and turned, and found himself looking into four identical eyes.  
"Say what you want about me." The Suzaku on the left smiled, then let the one of the right take over, "But sometimes it helps to have seven lives. Now, let's go help Yusuke." 


	28. Author's Note: Easter

Author's Note: Easter Fun  
  
First off, Happy Easter to everybody out there. I'd like to thank you all for continuing to follow my humble fiction, even when I'm slow (^.^; damn school). The fic has turned from a side hobby to an immense project of pride for me, and while I may not always be happy with the way things turned out (Particularly in the early chapters when I didn't know what was going to happen next), on the whole, I'm delighted with what I have created, and very gratified that there are others out there who would agree. I'll be picking up the pace as soon as I can (Damn senior project *sweatdrop*), and I have begun planning on a Prequel for you to look forward to. Good night everybody! And Happy Easter! 


	29. Chapter 22: Split personalities

Chapter 22: Split Personalities  
  
The cold night was silent, save for the chirping of the smaller insects in the fields nearby, and the slow drip of crimson blood splattered against one wall. The old airport, one of many abandoned structures within the ever modernizing city's walls, looked deceptively peaceful at first glance. The people within it, however, did much to destroy that impression. Two of the nerdy looking types were supporting a third, minus an arm, between them, the two youths nearby were staring down a soldier with drawn pistol held at the ready, and even the way the nearby figure chewed a pacifier seemed aggressive. Within a few moments, the silence was broken.  
"What are you talking about, Koenma?!" Yusuke demanded, flicking his eyes over to the disguised spirit ruler. Blaze noticed the lapse and shifted his pistol slightly to cover the Spirit Detective, but held his fire for the moment, likely considering the way the numbers were stacked at the moment, "I know them, They're not-."  
"Shut up, Yusuke." Koenma snapped, his eyes suddenly gone very cold, "I don't have time to explain it all right now. You can't deal with Blaze at this moment in time, so let them take care of that. You two will have a different problem."  
"What problem?" Yusuke voice echoed across the runway, but Koenma was no longer facing him. Instead, King Yama's Son stepped carefully to the three members of Asterisk, and held up one hand. As he did so, sickly green energy gathered at his wrist, forming in a ball which he loosely held in his palm. Ama, his freckled face pale with loss of blood, straightened on his feet completely, watching his approach.  
"Koenma...are you...sure?" He asked slowly, a hint of fear and, just maybe, anticipation in his voice. Kaze and Klick, freed of the task of holding up their friend, glanced at each other worriedly as the green light reflected off their eyes.  
"I'm sure. Just try not to let me down, if you would." Koenma nodded to them slowly. The green ball branched off into three lines of energy that struck each of the three hackers at the neck, knocking them back with a grunt. The green lightning crackled at their necks, drawing them to their knees involuntarily. As the lightening blazed, it soon became apparent that the glowing lines were wrapping around something invisible, standing out an inch or two from the necks of each member of Asterisk. The lightning faded, and as the three straightened, a polished silver collar, so tight that there was no space between the neck and the metal, was around their necks, a seemingly solid ring of steel with no clasp or lock. Yusuke blinked, Kuwabara stared, and even Blaze cocked his head curiously to the side.  
"Spirit Detectives." Koenma said solemnly, closing his eyes and extending his hand toward them, fingers spread widely, "I release you from your bindings until this crisis is averted. Do not make me regret my trust." The Spirit Ruler's voice was level, almost harsh as he spoke. With a thin click, almost lost even in the near-complete silence, the metal bands around each hacker snapped open along a hinge that was not there moments earlier, and clattered noisily to the ground.  
"Ca-Ahem...Klick..would you?" Ama said slowly, his voice subdued but clearly determined. Klick nodded once and, saying nothing, raised his hands. A single droplet of water touched the ground, followed quickly by a half a dozen more. Within a few moments, the cloudy skies, dark overhead, poured rain onto the airport mercilessly, in sheet upon sheet of chilling liquid, soaking everyone present to the bone almost instantly.  
"How the.." Yusuke broke off, pushing wet black strands of hair out of his eyes, "Was that Spirit Energy?"  
"It felt kinda weird." Kuwabara admitted, keeping a wary eye on Blaze who, gun in hand, ignored the water that rapidly dampened his crisp uniform, "Like spirit energy, but like demon energy too...weird.."  
The water was having a strange effect on the motionless hackers. The bad complexions faded, and the skin smoothed. No longer slouched or disguised, they looked much older then the computer-savvy friends that Yusuke had come to know. Red ran down Ama's face, leaving long red streamlets that stained the collar of his shirt even darker, but it wasn't until Yusuke noticed the white hairs, grey-wet with rain, appearing that he realized the crimson was not blood, but hair dye.  
"So..you're monsters too, eh? I might have known." Blaze sounded almost disgusted, tossing away his pistol onto the ground already speckled with puddled, "Just another group of maniacs with special powers trying to destroy humanity. Figures."  
"Not quite." Kaze put in, adding another quip with a smile, "Close though, sometimes."  
"We don't have time to play, and your side doesn't usually play fair anyway. Yield, or we'll be forced to try and kill you, Vince." Ama's voiced was nearly pleading, "Don't force me into that."  
"By all means, hit me with your best shot." Vincent Blaze dropped into a compact combat crouch, his hands in a ready position to block any unarmed strike, his feet ready to move in any direction. None of the three, their eyes unusually hard, made a move. Koenma turned to Yusuke and Kuwabara, a resigned expression on his face.  
"Yusuke, Kuwabara. You have another task. There's another enemy that needs to be neutralized."  
"What are you talking about, Koenma?" Yusuke objected, looking around, "I don't see any-."  
A rifle cracked in the distance, and the air crackled with the burning passage of spirit energy. A deadly circle of energy attached to a mundane bullet exited a rifle's barrel, flying with lightning speed and evaporating rain droplets that were unfortunately close to its passage, leaving a thin trail of mist behind it for a half second. The bullet was perfectly aimed, a precise shot that most professional soldiers would kill to have, and charged with enough spirit energy to equal even Yusuke's blast, but much faster. The bullet burned toward Koenma's heart, bounced off a green wall of light, and detonated a perfectly innocent shed alongside the empty runway.  
Koenma, his hand still held negligently where the bullet bounced, watched the ripples of the impact move along his shield. Yusuke gaped at him, and Kuwabara looked pole-axed. The three Hackers shared a brief look, and Blaze took his chance, rushing forward fast enough to leave afterimages behind him and threw a haymaker toward Ama, who was closest. The punch was grabbed and twisted out of the way by Kaze, who launched a quick barrage of blows that were negligently blocked by the wily veteran, who instinctively pulled the tanned youth off balance, but had to duck back as Klick, whirling an ancient seeming metal quarter staff that had quite literally appeared without warning, passed the metal club through the space where Blaze's head had been moments before. Taking advantage of the fact that the heavy swing had left Klick open, Blaze brought his hand up to throw a blow to the stomach, only to be knocked away by Ama. As Blaze regained his balance, he noted that fighting close partners had a difficulty he'd not counted on in the intense coordination. After that, the blows blurred together in his head, working entirely on rapid instinct.  
Koenma watched the melee break out with a look of confidant intensity, even as the pace of battle began to increase. His robe swirling around him, he turned back to Yusuke with hard eyes,  
"You've a job to do. Go to it, Spirit Detective. And for God's sake, be careful would you? I'd hate to lose you at this stage. Now, go."

---  
  
"Son of a bitch!" God snapped, his sniper rifle held tightly between his ungloved fingers, their sensitive tips caressing the trigger instinctively, "Absolute son of a bitch!" Whoever the guy with the pacifier addiction was, he'd managed to block a large enough shot to obliterate any reasonable person, and without breaking a sweat. God's eye pressed close to the scope, watching the situation and looking for an opening, but he knew it wasn't going to happen. Another shot at the newcomer would be a wasted bullet, not to mention a waste of his divine enchantment, and the three in a fight with Blaze, Wind-up Soldier-Boy, were simply moving too fast for even his practiced eye to pick out friend from foe. If he blew off Blaze's head, he'd never hear the end of it.  
His attention was drawn down below him, toward the street. God was perched over the side of the roof with his weapons, and directly below him was the fire escape. Feet clanging loudly, the two youths, one in blue and the other green, were rushing up toward the roof of the fifteen story apartment building. Sighing under his breath, and annoyed with the interruption, God tossed aside his rifle and grabbed up the other weapon in his case and pointed it down at the metal floors of alternating ladders.  
A shotgun, even the sawed-off version that God preferred, was a powerful weapon of its own right. However, the divine power that the injections had granted him, made it much more then simply powerful. The blast tore through the metal floor of the top as though it was paper, and it did the same thing to the fourteenth level. Around the eighth level, it began to die down, punching small holes in the metal instead of obliterating it. It did not reach the fifth floor, where the two youths were covering their necks in surprise at the raining bits of red-hot shrapnel. With a deeply toned creak, the overstressed structure pulled itself free of the remaining mooring on the building and collapsed in on itself. Unfortunately, the two youths threw themselves aside, and were not trapped in a prison of superheated metal, but the point was, they no longer had a ladder to get to him.  
Turning back to the whirling fight, he picked up the rifle again.

---  
  
"Are you people done fooling around yet or what?" Blaze sighed, his eyes watching the flashing blows but clearly not concerned with the difficulty level being displayed.  
"It's not like you're throwing everything you have at us either." Ama's voice had a yawn in it, even though the exertion was making his nonexistent arm ache, though he was using his freshly unleashed ability to stop himself from bleeding to death or going in to shock.  
"Damn right." Blaze agreed, ducking under Klick's swinging staff and automatically striking back with a backhand, which was, of course, blocked, "You gauge your enemies strength before you commit your own, you know that."  
"How well I know." Ama said, taking a step back. The three Asterisk members covered each other with constant switches, and one was usually a little back from the melee, cycling through to keep each of them fresh and rested. Ama was, for the moment, the 'out' man and therefore doing the talking, "Very Zen."  
"Don't try to be a hard case, you're not old enough to make it convincing." Blaze groaned, analyzing the attack sequence once again. Every time he grasped a pattern, they changed their tactics but certain consistencies remained. However much Ama was playing it off, the injury was slowing him down, like it would for anyone. He was cycling into the 'off' position more then the other two, and he was not launching 'threats' but instead confining himself to neutralizing Blaze's attacks. The tanned one, Kaze, was a full-blown scrapper with a risky strategy. He'd throw himself into the fray, launching an amazing flurry of close range elbow blows and quick strikes with open hands. The one with blue hair, Klick, would hang back and throw a heavy blow that both took advantage of any lapse, and covered Kaze's retreat as the next round began. It was a good strategy, but every strategy had a weakness somewhere....but where?  
"I guess it's time for one of us to get serious at last..." Ama sounded genuinely regretful as he cycled in for his turn, increasing his speed and, surprisingly, joining Kaze in a barrage of punches that Blaze had to work to block. His keen eyes watched the assault, looking for any kind of.-  
There!  
His eyes saw it, his brain processed it, and his body was moving before he finished the thought. Ama's right hand was pulled back to throw a punch, and his torso was open. Kaze was off-balance to the left, and Klick was a step too far to cover his friends as Blaze moved. His hand streaked toward Ama's stomach, grinning with the prospect of landing his first solid blow since the fight began. As his force was committed, he saw something that set off the alarm bells in his mind.  
Ama was smiling.  
As he noticed this, the wind kicked up, right into his face. For a moment, he thought it was a stray gust, until he realized that it was swirling in a circle, around the now-blonde Ama. As the blow advanced, Ama retreated, impossibly fast, and straight up into the air. Completely ignoring the generally observed laws of gravity, Ama hovered clear of the blow by a good few feet as it passed through the biting air. At the moment, Vincent Blaze knew he was not going to enjoy the chain of events from here. No longer obstructed by Ama's body, Klick's staff caught the back of Blaze's protruding foot and pulled up sharply. Suddenly stripped of his balance, Blaze started to fall.  
Kaze's first three blows landed professionally in a triangle over his gut, knocking the wind out of the soldier almost casually. As his back hit the wet ground, Klick's staff came back around across his right kneecap, rather nicely breaking it into at least four pieces. As Blaze screamed in pain, Klick spun his staff over his head and threw it into the air, then spun and pointed his empty hand at Blaze. The water under his back lurched, and Blaze was suddenly on a rollercoaster ride across the asphalt. In a flash on inspiration, Blaze grasped at a connection. If Ama went into the air, and was blonde, and Klick threw him via water, and had strange blue hair, then Kaze's brown hair meant...  
Kaze gestured, and a slice of earth cracked just ahead of him, and thrust upward. Blaze's headfirst rush was stopped by the wall of rock and he was abruptly rolling through the air, end over end with a stringing shoulder where it impacted. For a brief second he saw Ama streaking toward him, Klick's staff in hand.  
A flash of pain along with a steely crunch and the world went abruptly black.

---  
  
"Guess the wind-up soldier isn't as good as he thought he was." God sighed, sighting along the barrel and hovering the reticule over the brown-haired one's heart. The blonde was still hanging in the air, Lord knows what the air current would do the bullet, and the blue haired one didn't seem to as dangerous. God's fingers tightened along the trigger, "I giveth..and I taketh away.." He whispered to himself.  
"Hold it right there, jackass!" God glanced over his shoulder in time to see the door in the right corner open and spill out the two youths like a cork. They had actually managed to climb the buildings indoor stairs in remarkably good time, "We're not letting you stay out of the action completely!" Yusuke finished loudly, his left hand grasping his right wrist, with his right hand forming into a very familiar stance. Even as God was starting to straighten up, letting the rifle drop from his fingers, blue energy formed around Yusuke like an electrical storm. Another moment and the whole mess of energy was airborne in the most recognized show of spiritual unfriendliness in Spirit World: The Spirit Gun.  
God was highly trained, and was justly proud of his skills even before the injections had increased his abilities. Even as the rifle was clattering onto the rooftop, he hands blurred around his sides, and came up with a basic issue pistol held tightly in each hand. His backing away from the blast roaring toward him, he invested each bullet with energy and fired at the enormous ball of energy.  
The ball shuddered slightly, but advanced inexorably toward the soldier, paying no more attention to the bullets then it did to the rain that evaporated in its path. Even as God's eyes widened in disbelief, he realized he was moving too slowly to get out of the way. Panicking, he threw nearly all of his energy into his weapons, which caused pistols to glow an unnatural lime, then he turned the muzzles toward the center and fired again. The spiritual bullets arced green in the air, cross the short distance quickly and impacting against the sphere at almost the same place. For a moment, it looked as though the ball would bounce these as easily as the others, but the two glowing green lines disappeared into the center of the energy, and God willed them to ignite.  
The Spirit Gun exploded from the inside, ejecting the energy in all direction, but diffusely over an area. God turned his eyes away from the stinging fragments, and took another few steps back. As the smoke cleared, the sniper saw Yusuke standing where he had fired the gun, a smirk on his face. For a moment, God didn't understand, and then, with a burst of understanding, turned his head, looking for the other kid. Kuwabara, edging around the rifleman as he was rather distracted, was halfway through his swing, the orange spirit sword sizzling in the sprinkling rain, arcing toward God's neck. The sniper turned with his pistols in hand, though he knew that it was over, unless a miracle occurred.  
A miracle did occur.  
As the sword was nearly to the point of slicing into the neck, it vanished abruptly. Kuwabara's body, still a slave to momentum, was caught off balance as his hands were suddenly emptied, swinging past the man without noticeable effect. God, finishing his turn, pressed the pistol directly to Kuwabara's chest.  
And then he pulled the trigger.  
The shot was muffled by the proximity to the target, but Kuwabara jerked once as the bullet pierced into his chest. God, too tired to add anything to the basic metal, fired again, catching Kuwabara in the shoulder and sending a sticky stream of red crimson up into the air. As Kuwabara began to fall back, he fired twice more into the gut and chest, staining the blue uniform a deep red. Kuwabara hit the floor, and lay still.  
"Kuwabara!" God's head jerked around to the scream behind him. With a primal scream, Yusuke rushed the gunman, and God knew it was time to leave. Closing his eyes, he imagined himself back in his quarters, and willed it to be.

---  
  
Yusuke's fist passed through the air where the soldier had been a moment earlier, but the man was gone. His anger burned within him like a living thing as he scanned the rooftop, but God was most definitely gone. He had left behind his rifle and shotgun, but he had clearly fled the fight.  
Slowly, unwillingly, Yusuke turned to look behind him, his hurried mental defenses running out of his mind like a sandcastle in the waves. Kuwabara lay still, his breathing rattling dangerously and sounding too wet to be normal, and a pool of crimson spreading beneath him from a quartet of gunshot wounds.  
"Kuwabara..." He said slowly, his voice trailing off as he knelt, his knees soaked instantly in blood, "Kuwabara...can you hear me?" Slowly, Kuwabara's eyes opened, but they remained unfocused as the rain gathered on his face.  
"Ura...Urame...shi...this...doesn't mean..I can't...still...beat...you.." Kuwabara groaned, and then closed his eyes and lay still.  
"Kuwabara?....Kuwabara!!"

---  
  
"I'm sorry Vince..." Ama said softly, watching the man breathing his last, the side of his head slightly indented and bleeding profusely. Then he pointedly turned away, refusing to watch the slow death of someone he had called friend.  
"You gave him every chance." Klick pointed out reasonably, pulling Ama along toward Koenma, with Kaze stepping in on the other side of the white-haired hacker.  
"It's not your fault he got himself into something much bigger then he could handle." Kaze added, working as flawlessly in this battle as in the fight they had just effectively finished.  
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ama sighed as the three stepped along. Then his head raised with a surprised expression on his face, and all three of the youths turned in concert.  
"It's not possible." A strained voice said, and it took Ama a moment to realize that it was his own.  
"Come now, you didn't really think it would be so easy, did you?" Blaze asked him, his voice curiously contorted. The soldier was on his feet, despite the side of his head being just a little bit collapsed in on itself, "I would hate to disappoint you by offering such a lukewarm performance...Your side should talk more, I've already shown this trick to one of you." Blaze's broken body folded it's arms over his chest and a white light enveloped him, seeming to shine through him more then it surrounded him. Squinting against the light, Ama watched in disbelief as bent kneecap snapped back into position easily, and the blood flowed AGAINST gravity to reenter the veins before the wounds closed. Within a moment, the light faded, and the results of their fight were completely erased.  
"How...?" Kaze started, and then shook it off, dropping back into a combat crouch, "It doesn't matter. We'll just have to knock you into a position where you can't use that power anymore. You're just delaying it, you know."  
"Ah, but that's where you've gone wrong." Blaze chuckled, raising his index finger and wagging it admonishingly, "As I said, I never commit my strength until my enemy reveals his own. Now that you have, it's time to get serious!" The last word was snarled even as Blaze blurred and vanished completely, a curve of empty space where the rain had been knocked away arching away from where he was standing.  
"Zan! On your left!" Ama screamed at him, and Kaze reacted instantly, spinning around and punching straight with all his might. Negligently, Blaze slammed his left hand into Kaze's arm, diverting the blow, and struck out with his right hand, driving the fist deep into Kaze's stomach forcing the air out with a gurgled cough. Kaze's feet left the ground as he skidded along the asphalt with the force of the blow.  
"Bastard!" Klick swung his staff toward Blaze's head, and passed through the empty air instead as the soldier easily ducked under the metal club. With a swift grab at the end of the staff, the weapon swiftly changed hands. A quick thrust out drove the weight on the end into Klick's face with a crunching sound, and the blue-haired youth went sprawling with blood flowing from his nose. Dropping the stick, Blaze glanced behind him in time to see Ama jump from the ground with the wind swirling around him. Without hesitation, Blaze's knees flexed and he jumped upwards, traveling an impossible distance, his hand catching on to Ama's ankle at least thirteen feet off from the ground and dragging the youth back down to the earth with him. Before Ama could react, Blaze spun in a circle while hanging on to Ama's ankles and then slammed the hacker down onto the asphalt with a crack of overstrained rock.  
Blaze stood and surveyed the damage he had done. Kaze was on his knees, coughing violently as he tried desperately to regain his breath. Klick was on his side, both had held over his face as crimson poured between his fingers. Ama was rolling off the small indent in the ground with the movements of one whose entire body ached. Even the way his claws dug into the ground told him..  
Wait...Claws?  
"You..son of a...bitch.." The deep voice sounded nothing like Ama as the young man lifted his head. Blaze took an involuntary step back as he saw the canines had grown into veritable fangs, and the irises in the blue eyes were now formed into slits like a cat's eyes. The blonde haired was lightened to pure white and spreading rapidly into an unruly mane atop his almost unrecognizable face as he cursed in some language that Blaze was glad he didn't understand.  
A hand touched Ama's shoulder, and Blaze jerked his eyes up, so distracted by the spectacle that he was not paying attention to the others. Ama turned and hissed at the owner of the hand, his body crouched ferally as he glared at Koenma.  
"Ama, listen to me. Control it as you promised, it has no power over you as long as you don't listen to it. Come BACK Ama.." Koenma said urgently his pacifier held tightly in his teeth. And, abruptly, Ama the hacker straightened, looking as normal as he ever did.  
"Sorry about that, Sir." He said quietly, wiping blood of the edge of his mouth, "I kinda lost it there for a moment, but he surprised me." He glanced up at Kaze and Klick stood, groaning quietly, at his sides, "I think this requires a somewhat more...drastic...approach, My brothers. Are you ready?"  
"Ready as I can be." Kaze nodded, crossing his arms over his chest with anger in his eyes, "Let's give some of that back, shall we?"  
"After all, it's not polite to take and not give, I always say." Klick grinned wickedly, eyeing Blaze even as Blaze eyed him, "And he's powerful enough to warrant it, I'd say."  
"What are you...?" Koenma broke off abruptly, his eyes widening uncharacteristically, "You're going to use...? I didn't give you permission for that?"  
"You unleashed us because it's important, Koenma." Ama shifted his gaze to the Spirit Ruler levelly, "And we're going to do what we have to do to accomplish that goal. Please, stay out of out way."  
"I hope you know what you're doing." Koenma commented under his breath, but he took several steps back out of the way, leaving the three hackers facing the curious soldier.  
"You need a minute?" Blaze smiled briefly, "Or were you just about to transform into a cat."  
"Not quite." Ama smiled, showing every tooth in a gesture that went a little past friendly, "We've just reconsidered. Three on one is a little unfair, so we're going to even the odds a little." As he spoke, the air shimmed with white lines that wrapped around him like a snake. Klick and Kaze emitted similar energy bars, but they were blue and brown respectively.  
"You're all so color coordinated." Blaze sighed, but he got not further response from the youths as the energy began to twist faster, and then unwind. Like a snake or worm feeling its way across the dirt, the three bars groped slowly toward each other. As the three ends touched, the entire airport flashed like daylight, and Blaze took a step back involuntarily as his hands covered his eyes. As the light faded, leaving his eyes dazzled, he squinted at the spot where the three had stood.  
Only Ama remained, smiling brightly as Blaze recovered his balance. He seemed normal, until Blaze looked at the hacker's eyes. White lightening blazed so brightly as to shadow parts of his face, and the energy wrapped around the iris like a lover's embrace.  
"Now then, let's show off a little bit." Ama smiled, holding his remaining hand straight out, pointing two fingers at the JSDF officers, "It's a shame that I didn't get to show this offer earlier, if I had you'd recognize how different it is now. Ah well, I guess you'll figure it out."  
"What, exactly, are you-." Blaze blinked as energy erupted from Ama's finger tips, screaming in a straight white line like a laser bolt. Even as Blaze dodge to the left, barely, Ama's hand follows his moments and more lines were in the air. Ducking under one, and rolling to the side, he saw one of the near misses impact against the wall, gouging a hole in the solid brick like a hot knife in butter. Dimly he wondered who insured the abandoned building, and how much it would cost them to repair all the damage.  
"Having fun?" Ama asked, letting loose a quick trio of bolts that impacted the ground before Blaze's feet, "You're going to get tired if you just keep dodging me you know."  
"I couldn't agree more!" Blaze roared, and rushed the youth, ducking under the spattering of energy fire and coming in from the left side, with a high punch. Ama's left hand grabbed Blaze's sleeve and jerked the blow around out of the way.  
Wait, Ama doesn't have a left hand! Eyes glowing brown met his own as Blaze realized that it was not Ama that he had charged, but Kaze, the close fighter. Even as he tried to take a step back, Kaze's fist impacted against the bottom of his jaw with an uppercut. Blaze twisted in the air, back flipping easily and staring in disbelief at the brown-haired fighter.  
"We think maybe We mislead you before, Blaze. We implied we'd be fighting you one on one, but I think.." His voice trailed off as his spun. In mid motion, blue soaked through the brown hair, and Klick smiled as he twirled his staff over his head, "But we think now that one at a time might be a more accurate description...of course, we'll use each other's strength and speed while fighting, but sharing is always good isn't it?"  
Blaze blinked, his mind trying to assimilate this strange power desperately. He glanced over his shoulder as he heard footsteps, and Hiei, Kurama, and Suzaku appeared along side Koenma, breathing hard from the run. Yukina peeked at him curiously even as Hiei protectively stepped between them. Blaze was no fool, and he knew you don't fight losing battles unless you're battling to lose. He unclipped a small cylinder from his belt and threw it forward, where it bounced under Klick's feet.  
A flash bang is an accurately named piece of equipment. A type of grenade, it exploded with an eye blinding 'flash' and a deafening 'bang'. As the smoke cleared, Blaze was gone.

---  
  
"Now, Kurama!" Koenma commanded, and the Kitsune leapt forward and snapped the color around the neck of the thrashing youth. As soon as the color closed, it was sank into the flesh and disappeared from sight. Immediately, Ama stopped struggling and moaned with relief. Kurama wiped his brow lightly, as the job was done. As soon as they had separated, all three of the humans had begun screaming and rolling on the ground in misery. It had taken everyone present to hold them down long enough to replace the collars. Ama was the last, and his eyes opened only reluctantly.  
"You damn near got yourselves killed!" Koenma raged, now that the danger was past, "What were you thinking?"  
"What made you get the impression I was thinking?" Ama smiled weakly as he picked himself up.  
"Don't get cute, I'm familiar with your wit." Koenma sighed, "Was the situation really that drastic?"  
"You saw the soldier boy move." Kaze put in from nearby, where he was apologizing for a bruise on Hiei's shoulder one of his random flails had caused, "Do YOU think we could have taken him without it?"  
"No, not really." Koenma agreed reluctantly.  
"Koenma!" Yukina's voice called his attention, and his eyes quickly took his the ice princess with Yusuke, standing over Kuwabara, who lay motionless, "Come quick, Kazuma's hurt!"  
"Someone can make that oversized underbrained oaf stay down." Hiei blinked surprisedly.  
"Let's get him to spirit world." Koenma said quietly, "He'll heal better there. You'd better all come as well, it's time for some explanations." 


	30. Chapter 23: Explanation

Chapter 23: Explanations  
  
"What the hell were you thinking! You could have gotten yourself, not to mention a significant portion of the humans in that area, killed using a foolish stunt like that! When I released you, I said to keep it under control...NOT provoke it, and furthermore.."  
"We did what we had to do to win, Koenma." Ama drew himself straight, interrupting the dressing down with great reluctance, "Vincent Blaze is not a man to be trifled with, and he's much more powerful then we had imagined."  
"And if you and your merry little band had slipped a bit, what do you think would have happened, huh?" Koenma's eyes flashed dangerously as his disguised form bent, nose to nose with the blonde youth. Abruptly, the fire in his eyes went out, and he massaged his temple wearily, "I would have had to sign orders for your execution. I do not wish to do that."  
"Nor do we wish you to." Ama glanced back at the silent Kaze and Klick behind him. His position as the nominal leader of the crew came with a small collection of perks, but it also made him the only one up against the wall at times like these, "However, we understood the risk and the possible consequences. We did what we had to do."  
"Just...don't do things like that without telling me. My heart can't take it." Nodding briefly, he opened the door behind them, and strode out quickly. Spirit World was, for some reason, decorated almost entirely in blue, and the table the crew was sitting around was no exception. Hiei and Kurama sat on one end of the table, speaking quietly between themselves. Yusuke was sitting across from them, glancing occasional behind him where Kuwabara, his chest bandaged, slept peacefully on a cot, attended to by Botan. Genkai was pouring tea into a steaming cup, and speaking to a now even more timid Yukina in surprisingly gentle tone. Suzaku reclined against one wall, idly pouring electric spirit energy from one hand to the other. As Koenma and the hackers entered, the entire room glanced up at them.  
"Good, you want to explain what the hell had been going on lately?" Yusuke demanded impatiently, half rising from his chair, "We've been going from one crisis to the next without much time to think, and I'm so twisted up I could meet myself going around corners, so what's all this about?"  
"That's exactly what I've brought you all here, to work out exactly what's happening. I'm sure if we all put our heads together, we have enough information to see the big picture."  
"If that's the way we're playing it, I have a question." The normally taciturn Hiei pointed gravely at three Asterisk members, "I'd like to know exactly who I'm fighting with. These aren't normal humans, so who are they, and why couldn't I sense their power?"  
"They're Spirit Detectives, from long before we had Yusuke. You can't sense their power because...complications...force them to wear the limiters you helped me put back on them. You can't feel it because they can't use it."  
"I apologize for the deception." Klick said gravely, enunciated each syllable clearly, "However, certain...complications is a good word for it, I suppose...prevent us from appearing as we are, but we still wanted to keep an eye on Yusuke while he was getting the hang of things, so we adopted a façade. We're brothers, not just associates."  
"We had to change our names as well." Kaze put in, settling himself down into his seat, "My name is Zandock. Zandock Hakudou."  
"Amakaze Hakudou." Amakaze put in, nodding toward Zandock, "We split my name in half to cover him."  
"Caspar Hakudou." Klick/Caspar added slowly, sipping briefly on a cup of tea, "Again, we apologize for our deception, but it was a requirement of our jobs."  
"Hakudou..." Suzaku mumbled quietly, his eyes rolling back as he fought to catch a stray memory, "It seems I've heard the name before, but I can't remember exactly where."  
"I'd be surprised if you hadn't." Kurama shot back, his eyes flashing with an uncharacteristic fire, "Must have been ten or twelve years ago, if my memory serves. Hakudou was a powerful demon that caused problems for several years before he was finally put down. I was under the impression that his spawn were executed, but I see that Spirit World justice is as effective as ever."  
"We deemed that their service would be more valuable then simply taking their lives." Koenma replied levelly, "We didn't, however, deem their infraction enough of a crime to punish them so excessively."  
"You don't deem patricide a crime?!" Kurama's eyes were angry, and bit of grey were showing through his red hair, "I hadn't realized that your sense of right and wrong had fallen so far!"  
"Patricide?" Yusuke blinked, his face blank with incomprehension, "Isn't that some sort of spray that kills bugs?"  
"That's insecticide." Amakaze corrected gently, his voice steady and firm, "Patricide is when a child or children murder one or more of their parents."  
"You killed your parents?" Yusuke's voice was horrified.  
"No." Zandock said sharply, leaning forward abruptly, "Our father killed our mother, a decade after he raped her, and left her to raise quadruplets all on her own, living remembrance of that horrible night, and a eventual death sentence, as she prayed he would never find out. He found her, he killed her, and we returned the favor. I don't think-."  
"Calm down, Zan." Amakaze put a restraining hand on his brother's shoulder, and then turned back to Kurama, "Have we sufficiently explained our actions?"  
"Quite." Kurama glanced away, the fire in his eyes replaced with mute embarrassment, "Sorry...I just don't like the idea."  
"You said quadruplets..." Suzaku noted idly, watching the conversation, "So far as I know, that means four children. That being said, where's the remaining brother?" The three brothers exchanged a long glance that seemed to last almost forever. Suzaku was about the change the subject when Amakaze sighed softly.  
"Complications..." He said quietly, as though it explained everything, "I really can't tell you more then that, except it's a sister, not a brother. And if you are quite finished discussing our personal histories, may I suggest we move to our enemies?"  
"Excellent suggestion." Koenma agreed, and leaned back in his chair, draping his cape over the back of the seat. Behind him, the giant monitor against the wall flickered a moment with static, and then resolved into a pair of pictures. One was a picture of an old man, wine glass in hand at some sort of social function, while the other was a file photo, with a blue- eyed man staring piercingly into the camera. As he pictures formed, Yukina gave a tiny cry and deflated slightly in her seat even as Genkai calmingly stroked her back. "Amakaze has risked his life to bring us some intelligence on our enemies, so we may as well use it. The man on the left is Avery Bank, Assistant Director of Research within the JSDF."  
"Recently deceased." Amakaze put in gloomily, and the picture dimmed slightly, "The official report said that he was assassinated by your group, but I now realize that was just a cover. Ten to One, it was Matthews."  
"Which brings us to the other one, and he's much more dangerous. Gui Matthews, the aide and second in command on base. He's your most dangerous adversary, and now he's fully in charge. Caspar found a contact within the JSDF, and, before he was neutralized, Peterson sent us some very interesting information. It seems that Matthews was hiding information from Banks, as well as stealing power injections for himself. In fact, he's had more injections then everyone else in his division put together, so there's no telling what sort of powers he may have developed."  
"And that's not the worst of it." Amakaze grimaced, rubbing self- consciously at the bandaged stump of his left arm, "Having another person's spirit signature within your body is not healthy. Given time, it will wear away the super-ego of the soul...which translates into an insane lack of control. So many injections would drive any normal person stark raving mad..."  
"Which is something I still don't understand." Botan exclaimed, rising slightly from where she tended the sleeping Kuwabara, "Where did they manage to capture the fighters from the Dark Tournament? And how can you pull spirit powers out of someone, anyway?"  
"According to Matthews, which makes the whole thing suspect, a wanderer stumbled across the Tournament and got and eyeful of demons." Amakaze explained, toying listlessly with the bandage, "He reported it, and the JSDF sent someone to investigate. They captured some of the lower class demons and researched-."  
"Vivisected." Zandock correctly bluntly.  
"-And thereby made some startling discoveries." Amakaze continued, in a clinical tone, "They used that ability to capture some of the higher classes of demons, and, using the powers picked up there, climbed the ladder with each successive rung."  
"Exactly like I said before." Yusuke commented gloomily, "Just like dominoes."  
"The Machine, on the other hand, is the device they used to pull the powers, as I'm sure Kurama and Hiei could tell you." Both half humans shuddered with memory, "The strange spirit repression active around the base creates a sort of vacuum. Touching the bare skin with the right set of attributes allows the energy to diffuse from high concentration to low, inside the Machine itself."  
"From there, it's distilled down into some sort of injection." Amakaze flexed his right hand rhythmically, as though checking to make sure it's still there, "Put into the blood stream, it grants the user spiritual awareness like a lifetime of training...it'd be a great shortcut if not for the whole 'going insane' thing."  
"The standard way of getting stronger is fighting demons." Zandock smirked a bit as he leaned forward, "Sure that the 'going insane' thing doesn't apply to both?"  
"Personality quirks are a little different then actual insanity, Zan?"  
"Wouldn't insanity just be a severe amount of personality quirks?" Caspar joined the conversation interestedly. Amakaze opened his mouth to respond when Koenma's upraised hand cut him off.  
"If we could return to business?" The spirit ruler held their gaze for a long moment before returning his attention to the rest of the room, "Matthews may be the top of the ladder, but I suspect you'll have to neutralize his entourage before going after him directly. Fortunately, while a percentage of his army has been given the shots under the guise of 'vaccination' not every human developed power like you've seen. Most are significantly improved, but not nearly close to developing techniques. You've three sections to worry about: Skull Squadron, Wolf Squadron, and Guiness Squadron. The first, Wolf Squadron, was formed from the earliest injection shots, and did not actually develop their own gifts, but instead suppressed the powers of others. You met, and neatly executed, the entire squad when they came calling to the temple, but it was a very near thing. I'll review their powers briefly just in case someone else comes at us with them. First up..."  
  
---  
  
"Which means, of course, that is imperative to keep on your toes when facing Urameshi." Blaze droned, tapping a pointer against the picture shining on the wall, "The Spirit Gun is one of the more powerful weapons that might be used against us. We have the wreckage of jeep number four if you don't believe me, but I suggest you operate on that assessment."  
"If it's so powerful, how do we stay ahead of it?" Boone asked reasonably, his blonde ponytail swaying as he leaned back in his seat, "I've seen the mess that energy can cause."  
"Yes, but it's only a mess if it hits you." Blaze smiled briefly, and then elaborated, "Urameshi himself is his biggest weakness. He may be powerful, but he isn't trained in military combat. He reacts slowly to surprises, and doesn't track his targets very well. If you continue to move, he should miss you every time."  
"That won't be easy, even for me." Joaquin spoke up only briefly, his thick Spanish accent making Blaze think for a moment before he responded,  
"You didn't join the JSDF because it was easy; you joined because it would be worth it." Blaze reprimanded him sharply, and the tall man nodded once. Turning his eyes back to the rest of the room, the pictures behind the officer changed, "Now, that brings us to Kurama, AKA Suichi Minamoto. We've had no luck waiting for him to show up to school again, and that doesn't surprise me. He's likely the smartest of the bunch, and attacks using..."  
  
---  
  
"Which brings us to Skull Squadron." Koenma was saying, pointing out the individual pictures on the screen, "Commissioned shortly after Wolf, it's the next step in the chain of powers. Subordinate to Guinness, but much more dangerous then Wolf Squadron, these soldiers managed to pull techniques directly off the injections, allowing them to 'copy' attacks and abilities from the subjects. Lt. Robert Haze, the CO, had the abilities of Ryo and Kai of the Itchigaki team. He was dealt with by Kuwabara, fortunately for us." The room turned as one to glance back at the sleeping Kuwabara.  
"John Mason, the explosive expert, if probably the one in charge since Haze's run in with the spirit sword." Amakaze piped up, "I've met him once or twice, and he struck me as very odd. He laughs at things no one else finds funny, and he's very...intense...He borrows his powers from a blood sample take from a particular plant during the dark tournament..."  
"Karasu." Kurama's voice was hard as he said the name, "Appropriate for his nature. I can assure you that Mason's explosives are just as powerful as Karasu's bombs were."  
"Just so." Koenma agreed, tapping the next picture in line, "Jessica Strife transferred from Intelligence to take the position of communication officer. Replaying scenes of the fight, we suspect that her abilities are wearing away her emotions...she didn't even seem to feel pain. She displayed Angel Blades of the last member of Itchigaki member, but I suspect she has more then that up her sleeve."  
"Finally, we have the self titled 'God'." Amakaze explained, completing the tag team with Koenma, "He's a sniper, and a damn good one. He's got a slightly contemptuous outlook for others, like many soldiers, and considers himself 'his own' gift to women. His bullets are enhanced with spirit energy, and he can teleport himself from place to place."  
"Teleporation." Kurama nearly knocked over a water glass on the table before him, "We never faced anyone with teleportation. I thought you said that they only stole their powers?"  
"You have faced someone with teleportation." Koenma corrected gently, "Suzuka to be more specific, if you recall the 'cape of no return'. Just because they didn't come up with their powers doesn't mean they can't improve on them...and that makes them very dangerous."  
"But not as dangerous as the next group." Yusuke put in wryly, "If that was just the middle ground, I can't wait for this one."  
"It's not as bad as it seems." Koenma sighed, nodding to the board, "But it's very close. Guinness Squadron received the most advanced form of injection, giving them power and energy, but allowing them to shape it to their personality. There are four of them, and, as with the others, you've already taken out one of them. Specialist Fortune was another transfer from Intelligence, a successful mimic made greatly more advanced by the abilities of illusion. He killed himself when Hiei tried to pump him for information with a final blast of colossal proportions. Vincent Blaze, the CO, is likely to be your most difficult target of everyone. He's given us no powers to work off of, except for his ability to heal himself and others from even the brink of death. He's incredibly strong and fast, and he'll be a great challenge."  
"He's amazingly intelligent, and he's highly trained." Amakaze offered gloomily, "If we hadn't combined, he would have swept the floor with us."  
"Speaking of, how did you do that?" Kurama asked curiously, "And why didn't you do it from the very beginning."  
"Back to us?" Caspar sighed slowly, "I guess you deserve to know. One of our abilities to the power to briefly combine and share each others power and switch between at will. But using so much power for us is dangerous..."  
"Their father again." Koenma explained, "When he realized he was about to lose to his own kin, he implanted a message in their minds, and not a very pleasant one. But since he put it in the demon forms, they can escape the voice by remaining human. However, the more power they use, the less control they have over what they do have, which makes it dangerous for all of us. Else, they would combine in their full demon form and rip through the entirety of the JSDF without problem."  
"Anyway." Amakaze interrupted, clearly uncomfortable with the subject, "Jaoquin is a driver, and a motorcyclist. I have no idea what injections they gave him, and until we see him, we're not likely to know what's going to throw at us. Same with the last one, Conner Boone, the son of the CEO of BMT...Boone Military Technologies. If Japan uses it, BMT invented it. From what we know, in addition to being a master swordsman, he's bound to have developed some sort of para-natural gifts."  
"Which is everyone..." Koenma finished, "If there's nothing else? Go and celebrate, you've earned it."  
  
---  
  
As the room emptied of the group of spiritual warriors, Hiei lingered behind the rest. Moving slowly, a rare thing in and of itself, he caught Yukina's shoulder, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable for the stoic warrior that he was, "Yukina...could you stay a moment...?"  
"Yes, did you need something?" The Ice Apparition smiled, but it was a brittle smile, as if she expected a strike at any moment. Hiei took a deep breathe, his chest expanding and deflating slowly before the short fight spoke.  
"Yukina...Your ordeal is over. No one can hurt you again." Yukina's eyes bored into his own, and he felt compelled to add more, "We won't let them hurt you anymore. They can't get to you."  
"That's a very nice thought, Hiei." She turned her eyes from him, smiling as though he were a child speaking to an older and wiser adult, "But you were all protecting me before, when those men broke into Genkai's Temple and tried to kill me...You, you specifically, were protecting me when the others broke in and kidnapped all of us. You couldn't stop Matthews from doing what he did...you couldn't stop Fortune before he made a mistake. You can't protect me...You're not strong enough."  
"Yukina, that's not true." Hiei brow creased, an unknown sense of despair and helplessness settling over him slowly, "We know who they are now, we won't let them-."  
"And if you do...what then?" Yukina's question was gentle, but it cut directly into Hiei's soul, "I'll just be a target of the next demon, and the next, and the next...One of these days, if you keep fighting, you'll die, and you won't be able to save me anymore..."  
"Yukina..." Hiei's voice trailed off, as he desperately searched for something to convince her of his honesty without revealing his secret, "You don't believe that...your nightmare is over-."  
"It's not over yet!" She burst out, a very uncharacteristic thing for her. Her blue hair swirling around her, and he eyes flashing as ice gathered along the tile beneath their feet, "All you people care about is killing each other! All anyone wants to do is spread death over the world! All those people are dying! Dying! Because all you want to do is fight!" Priceless pearls poured out from her eyes, falling to the ground and rolling, ignored, around the edges of blue tile.  
"Yukina...! It isn't-."  
"What would you know about it!" She shouted, burying her face into her long sleeves. A blue-skinned ogre peeked inside the room for a moment, and then, just as quickly, vanished outside, "You're just a blood-thirsty warrior! All you care about it killing people! You don't care about anyone!" Sobbing, she turned away again, sinking to her knees and putting her elbows on the table. For a long moment, Hiei stood there, frozen by indecision.  
"You're wrong...Yukina..." He said slowly, and the ice spirit turned to him. His mental barriers, ripped and shredded as they had been in the last weeks, could not restrain his emotion. Slowly, a glistening tear formed under one eye, and dropped on a sparkling path to the tile.  
The black pearl bounced once off the ground, and rolled to a halt against Hiei's boot. Yukina stared at it uncomprehendingly, and then back up into the fire apparition's eyes.  
"Br...Brother?!" She squeaked, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Hiei nodded slowly, and the girl hesitated only briefly before throwing herself into his arms, weeping furiously, even as Hiei joined her. Pearls, white and black, mixed and scattered in every direction, "My brother!"  
"Sister..." Hiei smiled tenderly, something he would swear he had never done and would never do. Gently, he stroked her blue hair, "I'm here...I won't let anything happen to you..."  
"I believe you..." Yukina whispered, the worry and pain in her eyes fading to joy, "Oh, brother, I believe you now."  
"Rest easy, my sister." Hiei intoned softly, holding her tightly to himself,  
"Rest easy." 


	31. Chapter 24: Celebration Interrupted

**_Chapter 24: Celebration Interrupted_**  
  
The noonday sun shown brightly on Genkai's temple and the inhabitants within. The laughter that echoed over the stone stairs and the music mixed with it made it hard to imagine that the laughing revelers had, only a day before, been drugged and tortured for special powers inside a secret facility of the government's armed forces. Or, perhaps, it was the fact that they had been through so much hardship in so little time that allowed them to relax, seeking a balm for the painful memories that haunted them.  
"Yusuke, is something bothering you?" Kurama leaned against wall, his red hair still damp with the shower that had washed off the dirt of his ordeal, "You should be enjoying your victory at this moment. You've accomplished more then we might have imagined."  
"Yeah...I guess..." Yusuke came out of his reverie reluctantly, and Kurama began to pay more attention. Yusuke was not, usually, the introspective type of person, but rather a 'beat on something or someone until the problem goes away' type of person, "I just find it odd to celebrate when those guys are still out there."  
"Relax, Yusuke." The Kitsune said softly, swirling his tea thoughtfully as he considered, "They're professional soldiers, and they know better then to sacrifice common sense just to gain the element of surprise. With the help of their former prisoners, we represent a force they cannot defeat. We've reduced their numbers, and removed their ability to increase their powers with ours. We've won."  
"Yeah...it would be pretty stupid for them to try and take us now, wouldn't it?" Yusuke smiled, almost in spite of himself, and some of the cocky kid that they'd known for so long began to shine through, "We'd kick their asses."  
"Most assuredly." Kurama flashed a confidant smile, waving to the open area where the party was in full swing, "If this collection of Apparitions can find cause to relax and celebrate, why don't you join them?"  
Yusuke's eyes followed the sweep of his hand, and took in the scene. Kuwabara was back on his feet, more or less, and Yukina was hovering nearby, trying to get him to take it easy. Hiei also found reason to keep close to Kuwabara, managing to 'accidentally' press down on one of the bandaged wounds whenever Kuwabara confessed his love for the Ice Apparition. Shishi Wakamaru, always the showman, was providing the singing for the party, and he had dragged the blushing Botan on stage to help with a pleasant duet for a cheering Rinku. Against the far wall, Jin and Touya whispered quietly, enjoying the others company after prolonged separation. Suzuka and Suzaku, perhaps due to the similarity of their names, were engaged in an animated conversation over the proper application of techniques and strength. Bui and the brothers, Ryo, Kai, and En, were not present, opting to take their chances avoiding the coming battles. Zandock and Caspar were talking quietly with Koenma and keeping an eye on Amakaze and Chu, who were telling increasingly ridiculous stories about times when other demons were drunk.  
"I suppose you're right." Yusuke flashed a cocky grin, "Shall we then?"  
"Of course, unless you'd like the reputation of relaxing less then Hiei."  
Laughing, the two returned to the group.  
  
---  
  
Matthews put his head in his hands, massaging his temples with the tip of his fingers. He could feel the start of a nasty sinus headache forming back there, and he was not looking forward to listening to the continuous string of bad news that had followed him for hours.  
"Sir? The reconnaissance team is requesting orders." The aide repeated, sweating nervously with the task of interrupting his CO's thoughts, "What shall I tell them?"  
"The same thing as always." Matthews muttered into the desk, "We don't have the forces to launch a raid, so keep your head down and keep reporting until otherwise ordered."  
"Yes, Sir!" The aide snapped off a salute and retreated, anxious to get out of the room. As the door slid open, he passed another man stepping into the office and flashed him a 'see you at your funeral' look.  
"Sir?" The newcomer said deferentially, trying to wipe off the last lingering spots of grease on his hands with a rag, "Do you have a moment?"  
"It had better be good news, Jackson" Matthews said flatly, glancing up at the beaming engineer and focusing on the bright smile, "It IS good news?"  
"It is, Sir." Jackson grinned, unable to restrain his exuberance, "We just managed to iron out of the bug in the Iron Curtain project. The computer chips were located too close to the power source, and the heat was causing-."  
"The Iron Curtain is operational?" Matthews cut the man off, his eyes opened wide as his headache vanished, "It's working?"  
"Aye, Sir." Jackson nodded, sliding over a set of schematics and information, which Matthews promptly ignored, "We're a little over budget, but it works perfectly as intended, Sir."  
"Good Work, Colonel Jackson." Matthews nodded absently, gazing at the ceiling reverently and letting a smile touch his pale lips.  
"Uh...I'm a Captain, Sir."  
"You were a Captain, Colonel, before you helped us win the war." Matthews smoothed down the front of his suit, "Award yourself a three day pass, starting tomorrow. Today you'll need to operate the Iron Curtain Device, Report to the Command Center."  
"Yes, Sir!" The newly minted Colonel saluted, and strode out of the office. Matthews allowed himself another smile, his deep blue eyes sparkling unnaturally in the dim light,  
"And now, Yusuke Urameshi, you won't be able to interfere with us anymore."  
  
---  
  
"...And so I'm standing there, right? Running through the halls, completely naked and looking for my clothes, right?" Amakaze's hand waved vigorously through the air as he spoke, "When I round the corner and bump right into Koenma, of all people!"  
"Completely naked?" Chu was laughing and pounding the table with the hand that wasn't occupied holding his beer. A shadow passed overhead briefly as Jin, showing off for the crowd, did small loops in the air, staying relatively close to the ground so that a passerby outside the temple would not witness a flying person. "I bet that went over real well, eh? What did you do?"  
"Well, I drew myself up and gave him my very best salute." Amakaze went on, his eyes twinkling as he built up to the punch-line, "And I said 'Sir, I regret to inform you that we've achieved only a partial success on the personal cloaking technique!'"  
Chu howled with laughter, slapping his hand to his thigh with amusement. Amakaze lifted his hands to describe the next part of the story, when everything abruptly went horribly wrong.  
Jin, in mid twist, suddenly fell out of the sky like a stone would have. The red-haired demon hit the stone with a heavy sounding thud and lay motionless. To his left, Touya and Rinku, who moments earlier had been cheering loudly, we slumped over a table, their eyes closed tightly. Yusuke's eyes tracked the scene, and tried to make sense of the chaos. They were all on the ground, Suzuka, Shishi, Botan, Yukina, and Chu were slumped where they had been, bodies limp and unfeeling. Hiei, Kurama, Suzaku, and the three hackers were still on their feet, barely, clutching at their chests with an expression of sudden pain. Kuwabara was looking around in bewilderment, Koenma in alarm, and Yusuke himself felt fine.  
"Koenma! What's going on?" Yusuke demanded, covering the distance between them in three quick strides and gathering fistfuls of the Spirit Ruler's robes, "What happened to them?"  
"Clearly our enemies have out thought us again." Koenma said calmly, and Yusuke was surprised by change in his boss. Ever since the crisis had begun, Koenma had been cool, calm, and in control of every aspect of the ongoing adventure, a very different ruler then the shouting baby version. Perhaps even Koenma had finally begun to grow up, "Now, if you don't mind, why don't we focus on finding out exactly how they did it."  
  
"It's like...the base." Suzaku groaned, pulling himself to his feet, "But stronger..."  
"They're not just suppressing the energy this time." Kurama's voice was just as strained as he straightened, "Apparitions depend upon spiritual energy merely to survive. They survived, unhealthily, in the JSDF's base. They cannot survive in this."  
"But then why are we ok if they're dying?" Kuwabara winced slightly as he bent too far and his wounds ached, "We use just as much as they do, don't we?"  
"Yes, but you and Yusuke are human." Hiei entered the conversation, his face and voice revealing nothing of the pain evident in the others, "You depend on energy for your powers, not for your survival. Kurama, Suzaku, those three whatevers and I are all technically human, but it's still a painful occurrence. Koenma is....ah...?"  
"It's the Iron Curtain project." Amakaze gasped, interrupting, the pieces sliding around in his head and clicking into place, "Oh God, they finished the Iron Curtain...!"  
"Ama! What's the Iron Curtain!?" Zandock grabbed the other youth by the collar and nearly lifted him off his feet, "No time for hysterics, just tell us, and why the hell didn't you mention it before?"  
"I didn't know they could get it up and running so fast!" Amakaze exclaimed quickly, "There's a dozen projects that would be devastating to us, but they aren't finished yet. The Iron Curtain wasn't even supposed to enter the test phase for another month! It used relays hidden in fields around the city to magnify to base's system over the entirety of the city. With that many relays, it doesn't just lower the energy level...it removes it entirely!"  
"Over the whole city?!" Yusuke shouted, nearly an inch from the blonde hacker, "How the hell are we supposed to get all of them out of city before they kick off?"  
"Shhh.." Koenma held his finger to his lips and cocked his head as though listening to something elusive, "Did you catch that? There, just now again.."  
Yusuke concentrated for a long moment, repressing his anger at wasting so much time while his friends were in jeopardy. And then, almost imperceptivity, he felt a little bit of strength in his middle, gone almost before it registered, "Spirit Energy?"  
"It must have a bug!" Caspar snapped his finger, his usual reserved demeanor falling off, "We've got to act before they fix it, we can load them into the APC-."  
"No."  
Slowly, the group all turned to Kurama, who had a strange look in his eyes, "You said they hid the relays in fields, did you?"  
"Yeah, I did. What's that got to do with anything?"  
"Let's get to the APC...I know where the problem is, and if we can beat them there, we'll truly have won. Now, let's go."  
  
---  
  
"Colonel, we've been getting strange readings from the Curtain system." An aide twisted the handless mike downward as he leaned back to speak to his new superior officer, "We may have a problem."  
"A problem? The system works doesn't it?" Matthews was leaning over Colonel Jackson's shoulder, literally breathing down his neck, "You told me the system works."  
"We hadn't field tested it yet, Sir." Jackson said, his admiration for the base commander dipping a little bit, "As I mentioned in my report. However, it doesn't seem to be a critical error. Lieutenant?"  
"Well sir, we've been getting fluctuations in Relay Three." The lowly Lieutenant tapped a key and a map of the immediate area lit up on the main monitor, a small section lighting up red, "We suspect that some of the equipment might have eroded in the time since we erected it. We've reached a ninety-five percent level of energy ambience reduction, but I estimate that will continue to dwindle as the system cycles through itself."  
Jackson opened his mouth to speak, but Matthews was faster. The blue-eyed commander smashed his hands down on his chair, vibrating the floor under him, and making the suddenly busy techs nearby flinch.  
"Damnit! Ninety-five isn't good enough! We need ninety-seven to kill of the bastards and cut him off from his security network. It's not good enough. Fix it, Damnit! Now!"  
"Yes, Sir." Jackson nodded, and then snapped at the Lieutenant, "Damnit! I want that system fixed, and I mean now! Dispatch three mechanical teams to the site with maximum priority! As fast as possible isn't quite fast enough! Understand?"  
"Yes, Sir!"  
"Sir! Our agent just reported movement at the primary target." Someone called, "The APC is in heading east."  
"Jackson..." Matthews was back in control after a moment's thought, his voice smooth, like a snake slithering across marble, "Has the project file for the Iron Curtain been hacked?"  
"Sir?"  
"Could information about it have been stolen, if the user was good enough, or had an inside link?"  
"I suppose it could have been, sir..." Jackson hesitated, rolling that around, "A good hack leaves as much evidence as none at all, why?"  
Instead of answering directly, Matthews leaned over one of the techs soldiers, and smiled as he spoke,  
"How many of our special research troops are on duty as of now?"  
"Both Guinness and Skull are present here." The tech replied, "The sniper is still recovering from an additional injection and is not on the 'on call' roster for another few hours."  
"Scramble them." Matthews grinned wickedly, "Guinness and Skull both, anyone who IS on call. Tell them to rendezvous at Relay Three and begin entrenching."  
"All of them, Sir?" Jackson's voice was curious, and cautiously excited, "You don't think..?"  
"Oh, I think so indeed." Matthews settled himself back in his seat, his eyes lighting up with anticipation, "They're going to try and beat us there, and our soldiers can intercept them. We'll massacre them, and that'll be the end of one annoying obstacle and his friend."  
"To victory, Sir?" Jackson poured and offered his superior a glass of sparkling champagne. He'd intended to save the drinks to celebrate his promotion back at his own quarters with a lovely mid-level tech he'd been seeing lately, but what the hell. Despite strict policy about drinking on duty, Matthews took the glass.  
"To victory!" He agreed, raising his glass, "Absolute victory."  
  
---  
  
"It's different here..." Suzaku noted slowly as he stepped out onto the grass between the tall fields, "I can feel my life force again..."  
"The 'Iron Curtain' removes spirit energy, I would surmise that the excess is therefore focused along the fluctuation." Kurama noted, glancing around and breathing deeply of the background energy, "A bit like light caught in a magnifying glass and focused down onto a single point, the repression must-."  
"If you think I understood any part of that." Yusuke commented sourly, "You're sadly mistaken."  
"Hard to know for certain." Hiei spoke up as if Yusuke had never interrupted, "Koenma's the only one who knows for certain what laws energy does or does not follow, and, quite interestingly, he didn't come with us."  
  
"You do have to admit Kuwabara needed some taking care of." Amakaze defended his boss equably, "And we couldn't have left the others completely undefended either, and he did allow us some access to our powers again, so he might have though we could handle it..."  
"Hnh." Hiei sniffed, checking to make sure his sword was loose in the scabbard, "Petty excuse."  
"Yusuke?" Caspar called softly, glancing over at the set of other figures standing near the tiny, unimposing, and very bent relay, bent, in fact, by the tiny, unimposing, and very deadly Hiei who was running without looking where he was going, so many days ago. It seemed like nearly a lifetime, in fact. Kurama's thoughts drifted to a night in a field...  
"Yeah, I know." Yusuke grumbles, squinting at the figures as they strode toward his group, even as his friends moved toward them, "Looks like the group is all here, or almost everybody anyway."  
"Ah, Yusuke!" Blaze called as soon as he could be heard, waving his hand as though a chance meeting by close friend, "I was hoping you would come. I'd hate to miss a chance to finish this grudge between our respective groups once and for all."  
"You lost to us before, you'll lose again." Zandock pointed out simply, and Blaze's eyes tightened ever so slightly, but he was still smiling.  
"That remains to be seen, my friend." Blaze chuckled quietly, "But it does seem like fate that we should meet now to settle the matter on the epic battlefield...but perhaps that's melodramatic, Shall we get started?"  
"You and I have a score to settle." Conner Boone eyed Hiei, and the short demon saw that he was armed now with a saber rather then a rapier, "And I would very much like to see it settled."  
"I wouldn't have it any other way."  
"Something the matter fox-boy?" Mason laughed convulsively, energy blazing between his fingers into Karasu's living bombs, "You look a little pale."  
"You'll see soon enough." Kurama growled, the grey of Yoko showing through in his eyes, "You'll see."  
"It is very good to meet you, Sir." The Spanish man said differentially to Suzaku, and gently tapped a finger against the thrumming motorcycle he was astride, "My name is Joaquin...and I am interested to know if I the rumors about me are true...can I move faster then lightning on this bike?"  
"In the spirit of scientific inquiry..." Suzaku murmured softly, the air about his crackling briefly, "I'll help you find out."  
"And Blaze is for us." Amakaze nodded, and then gestured to the women standing mutely beside Blaze, "Take care of the leftovers, would you Yusuke?"  
Yusuke nodded, and Strife's eyes glittered coldly as she smiled, a smile devoid of warmth, compassion, or any human emotion at all. For a long moment, the two groups eyed each other...  
And then, with a blur of movement, the final act began. 


	32. Chapter 25: Love is Battlefield, Hate is...

Chapter 25: Love is a battleground, Hate is a given.  
  
Sparks erupted from metal in a cacophony of multi-colored explosion that drifted downward to blanket the ground in long streaks, following the path of a battle too fast to follow. The black-haired swordsman faced off against the blonde duelist in a dizzying series of strikes and maneuvers. The air crackled with spirit energy; the strange spirit relay focusing and concentrating the whole of the city's spiritual power onto a small area. On this battlefield, focused as the energy was, any expenditure was liable to return tenfold, and the ordinarily quick pair was beginning to leave streaks of smoke as the friction of the wind heated the air between them.  
"I thought you were a rapier expert?" Hiei questioned, interested despite his nature. The two swords, the katana and the saber, clashed a half dozen times before he had even finished speaking, forcing him into another quick retreat, "Dabbling is a dangerous habit."  
"Not a dabbler." Boone assured him, his pony-tail twitching like a snake as his eyes followed every strike and counter, "Just thorough. I could face you with any weapon, but, as it turns out, this was the preferred weapon of my father, and this sword is his legacy to me after his death."  
"It is a fine weapon." Hiei agreed quietly, spinning in place and launching a series of quick slashes at every angle, but each was parried with enviable skill, "He died well?"  
"Of course." Boone's head inclined fractionally, as close to a nod as he could come without opening himself to immediate and savage attack, "He died in battle, against a single opponent in honorable battle, the only true way to die."  
"I agree." Hiei parried twice and stepped back again, smiling ferally as the fight continued, "My apologies, but I intend to give you the same death as your father had."  
"Likewise." Boone grinned, and then thrust forward again, and the duel was on once more.  
  
---  
  
The small creature was green, and no bigger then an apple or peach. It flew with single minded tenacity, alighted briefly on a small section of the dirt where the fox-spirit had stood a moment earlier, and then exploded. The fire engulfed a ten foot area with horrendous fury, and then impact shook the ground as small bits of stone and burnt grass settled to the ground out of the smoke.  
"Surely I didn't get rid of you that easily?" Mason chuckled, his boots crunching the blackened grass as he waited for the smoke to clear. Two more creatures hovered around his head like crazed satellites, "That wouldn't be any fun; I wanted to really tear into you..."  
"We must always make concessions when dealing with a hostile party." Kurama's voice responded, and Mason glanced disinterestedly over his shoulder, apparently not caring that his enemy was some feet behind him, "Perhaps we shall both have some 'fun', as you so quaintly put it."  
"Perhaps, or perhaps you'll just burn for my amusement!" Mason's voice rose in pitch, the whites of his eyes showing just a little two much as he spun and pointed, "Now Die, Kurama!" The two floating bombs left their orbits and streaked toward the red-haired Kitsune like bullets. Kurama's fingers twitched, and both miniature monsters had a rose piercing the entirety of their bodies. They floated a moment on momentum, and then detonated into another amazing explosion.  
"You're too predictable, Kurama." Mason grinned, taking a deliberate step to the left. A dark green line thrust through the smoke and snapped through the air when he had stood, "I know all about your whips and your little plants. I've got Karasu inside of me, remember?"  
"Maybe you do." Kurama coiled the rose whip into his hand, stepping around the double crater of the detonations, "Then maybe you know I beat him already, just like I'll beat you."  
"We'll see about that!" Mason's laugh echoed in the empty air, as four more bombs glowed into existence, "Now, bring it on, demon!"  
"With pleasure." Kurama's eyed glittered dangerous, and the rose whip uncoiled, "With much pleasure indeed."  
  
---  
  
-On your left!- Zandock's voice echoed inside Amakaze's head as clearly as if the other had shouted directly into his ear. Warned, Amakaze automatically raised his arm into a defensive position over his side, but it was still a crushing blow. Blaze's fist impacted with his shoulder, sending painful vibrations throughout his body before that same body plowed up a ditch in the ground, thrown back by the force. Amakaze pushed himself up, wishing he dared to use his wind abilities to fly, but he had no idea how to control the power focused in this area if he were to try.  
-Thanks for the warning.- He thought gratefully, reaching through the link he and his brothers shared, "Nice hit Vince."  
"A little slow for me, thanks." Vincent Blaze bounced like a boxer on the balls of his feet, "I almost thought you were going to dodge it again."  
"This is all a little pointless, isn't it?" Caspar's calm voice asked, knuckles white as he gripped his staff, "I mean, neither of our groups want to use our full power, for fear of what that power might do in this environment. So, are we to remain locked in struggle...to what purpose?"  
"Because, as you no doubt know, your friends have little time left." Blaze's faced twitched momentarily, as though he was trying to smile but did not, "We're stalling you, long enough for your dear friends to pass from this world into the one beyond."  
"We've been there, there isn't much to see." Zandock bounced also, his fists lifted in preparation, "It doesn't seem like the most honorable way of dealing with your enemies, if you ask me."  
"I have my orders." Blaze snapped, his face twitching yet again, and Amakaze jumped on the slip instantly.  
"Orders are all well and good, particularly if honor never comes into the equation, right Vince?" Amakaze's voice hovered just this side of openly insulting, and Blaze's face darkened. Ama had scored a hit, "I guess right and wrong doesn't matter, because you have your orders."  
"Shut up." Blaze's voice was no longer calm and congenial, "I know that what we're doing is the right thing. Anything to get rid of you and the monsters like you."  
"Monsters." Amakaze cocked his head to the side, as though confused, "It seems to me that we were to ones who were attacked without warning. Without warning, and captured and held in cells like prisoners. Isn't that interesting, that you would hold them instead of eliminating the threat? Almost as though Matthews was more interested in the power then protecting the people from-."  
"Silence, you bastard!" Blaze leaped forward, a blur of motion that slipped back Caspar and Zandock before either could react, and, even as the fist began to travel, Amakaze knew he wouldn't move fast enough either, but he also knew that he'd won the verbal battle.  
Then the fist connected, and the world exploded in stars.  
  
---  
  
Thick strands of lightning exploded all around him, and Carlos Joaquin lowered his head and revved the engine further, crossing over the invisible line that separated the spirit-rich area from the spirit empty zone that encompassed the rest of the city. The motorcycle slowed as Joaquin lost the ability to increase his speed with spiritual energy, but the lightning vanished as it hit the energy wall. Joaquin leaned over and eased the bike back inside, feeling the energy return as he did so.  
"I'm getting really tired of that maneuver." Suzaku snarled, the sky spiting out another bolt of lightning into his waiting hand, "You're never going to defeat me by running outside of the energy."  
"Si, Si, sir." Joaquin agreed, skidding to a halt to talk with the new human, "You could block me, you know, if you used your splitting trick."  
"How stupid do you think I am?" Suzaku sneered, cracking his fingers even as the storm blazed around him, "Using the Storm of Torment when it's stronger then intended is fine, using a technique that split myself into seven identical pieces could have...unintended...repercussions."  
"Si." Joaquin sighed briefly, "So much for the easy way. I guess I earn my pay the hard way."  
"It would appear so." Suzaku agreed. The two eyed each other warily for a moment and the Spanish man in the JSDF uniform twisted the throttle and spun the bike in a brief circle. When it was pointed directly at the orange-haired Saint Beast, he pulled the throttle all the way back, and the bike jerked forward with a burst of speed.  
"Coming straight at me doesn't help you much." Suzaku rolled his shoulders, "It just makes you much easier to hit!" Fingers extended, he raised his palm to the oncoming bike, and the lightning around him lurched out like and arrow and streaked toward the oncoming bike, which was just was Joaquin had expected. Throwing himself to the right, the bike folded downward, its side scrapping the grass as it slid, barely, under the electricity. The Storm of Torment blackened the ground as it tried to follow, slamming into the ground instead. Before Suzaku could react, the driver had bounced up, coming to rest with the entirety of the bike's weight balanced on the rear tire in wheelie, the front of the bike circling around and connecting solidly in the head.  
Suzaku went down, bouncing once on the ground and rolling to a stop. As he rose to his feet, he wiped blood off his lip with the back of his hand. Glancing up, he saw Joaquin leaning on the handles, watching him.  
"You'll have to be faster then that, monstruo."  
"There was spirit energy behind that hit..." Suzaku reeled a bit, shaking his head to clear it, "A lot of energy."  
"Si, Monstruo, Si." The man nodded energetically, "I have ridden this bike so long it is, how you say, a part of me now." Without warning, he revved the engine again, speeding away from Suzaku and circling around until he was pointed directly at Suzaku again.  
"Ready, Monstruo?"  
"As you wish." Suzaku's face tightened as he gathered his energy around him again, determined not to miss. As the bike jetted forward, he held his fire, letting Jaoquin close the distance between them. At the last possible moment, when the bike was only a few feet away he loosed his lightning. Joaquin did not dodge, but simply put his head down further under the motorcycle's visor. The energy streaked across the distance instantly, screaming harshly in the silence, and bounced ineffectually off that visor.  
Suzaku blinked, recoiling, but far too slowly. He caught a glimpse of Joaquin unlocking a switchblade from his belt as the image blurred by, a flash of light on metal, and he screamed.  
Joaquin slowed to a halt, and his knife dripped crimson blood onto the grass...  
  
---  
  
"You've already tried this, remember?" Yusuke scolded, threading effortlessly through the series of Angel Blades and landing a solid kick against the strange woman's torso. She hit the ground without so much as a grunt of pain or frustration and flipped quickly back up to her feet, "And you're not the only one. I fought the original, remember?"  
The women said nothing, but her green eyed blazed fiercely at the insult. Spinning in a tight circle, the glowing yellow discs appears again around her arm, and she extended her arm at Yusuke as she twisted. Sighing boredly, the youth jumped through the rings without touching any, and drove his fist deep into her stomach. There was a rush of air out of her lungs as he folded up around his hand, but no outcry like he would have expected. Again, she hit the ground, and again she bounced to her feet nimbly.  
"It doesn't matter whether you throw them forward or backhand them at me." Yusuke continued, cracking his knuckles briefly. They made a singularly unpleasant sound as he smiled grimly. Behind him, an explosion lit up the area briefly, framing him in orange light, "Now then, either start giving me a real challenge, or take a hike. I don't care which." Strife's eyes watched Yusuke's briefly, and he blinked. Her brilliantly green eyed faded slowly to dull grey, and he mouth opened slightly.  
"Alright, detective, have it your way." She said quietly, her voice a whisper on the edge of hearing, and she clearly enunciated each word, "Come. Show me what you have got."  
"Alright, you asked for it!" With a yell, Yusuke rushed her, his arm cocked backward. As he neared, for just a moment, he thought he saw her smile. Shrugging it off, he thrust his fist forward with all his strength behind it.  
And lurched off balance as his feet lifted entirely off the ground. Wind buffeted him from all sides as his momentum carried him forward, until a fist cut through the wind and into his stomach. Yusuke DID grunt as the pain coalesced and his body reversed course. Turning in the air, he landed on his feet and panted, grimacing with pain and he looked up.  
Strife watched him, her long red hair twirling in the wind, her black jumpsuit gleaming in the sunlight, her face an impassive mask. The wind kicked up leaves and bits of grass from below, twisting it around in a tight circle around the woman. A tornado of wind surrounded her, and she hung aloft at the very center of the spinning vortex.  
"Damn it..." Yusuke gritted his teeth against the swirling eddies twirling from the tornado. No doubt powers borrowed from Jin, the wind spirit, he knew his Spirit Gun was now worse then useless, assuming it would even work properly on this ground. As thought sensing his discomfort, Strife arced into the air, spun in a loop, and dived straight at Yusuke.  
Yusuke gritted his teeth, braced his feet, and prepared himself to meet the charge. She WAS going to offer challenge after all...  
  
---  
  
-Next time we fight someone this strong...- Caspar was panting heavily, swaying on his feet as he tried to keep up with the blur. His staff was always in motion, blocking and being blocked, -I vote we don't...let Ama...talk to them anymore...-  
-I'll agree with you.- Amakaze murmured mentally, blood running down his forehead as he pointed his index finger at Blaze and released the Spirit Gun. Unlike Yusuke, Amakaze did not often have torrents of energy to work with, and his gun reflected his personality. More like a laser then a cannon, it was a precision tool that sliced through whatever it touched, and returned to Amakaze if he called it. The blue-white energy erupted from his fingertips and burned into Blaze's shoulder. The Lt. grimaced briefly and swung a vicious backhand that, once again, knocked Amakaze back to the ground.  
Kill him! Rend his flesh from his bones, and destroy him! Kill them all!  
-Make that three in...agreement...- Even Zandock's mental voice was a hiss. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he backed off a bit, -Are we just going to stand here and take this, or do we get serious?-  
-You KNOW what Koenma said about that!- Amakaze objected, spiting blood onto the grass and staggering to his feet as Blaze, smiling coldly, bounced on his feet, apparently unhurt, -We can't do it.-  
-We don't have to do that, necessarily.- Caspar joined the argument on Zandock's side, -Hakudou is screaming at me enough as it is...but why don't we try something else?-  
You must kill them all! Feed on their frail human bodies! Destroy the human world! DestroyDestroyDestroyDestr-  
Amakaze shook his head, trying to clear that insistent voice from his ears. It never really worked, -What exactly are you suggesting?-  
-Me? I say we blink him.-  
-Blink him.- Zandocks mental voice was exultant, and he nodded in the real world.  
-Blink him.- Amakaze was smiling coldly, and he nodded as well. Blaze cocked his head to the side, suddenly confronted with three grinning opponents in a situation they should not have been happy about.  
"Something funny, Ama?" The officer had his arms raised preparedly, and was watching all three youths with a wary eye, "Seems like you're having a conversation I'm not privy to."  
"You're right about that." Amakaze raised his good arm slowly, then crooked his fingers slightly in a 'bring it on gesture', "Why not hit me and see what we're smiling about?"  
"If that's the game you're playing..." Blaze rolled his shoulder, and was suddenly gone in a blur of quick motion, "Then you'll regret calling me out!" Too fast to redirect or avoid, Blaze's fist crossed the distance, reached Amakaze's face...  
...And passed through without noticeable resistance. Even though he was prepared for a surprise, Blaze found himself suddenly off balance as the momentum of his own thrust pulled him forward. Stumbling slightly, he fell forward, catching himself with his hand and rolling quickly back to his feet with remarkable agility. As he turned, he saw Amakaze standing in the same spot, watching him with a slight smirk on his face. Oddly, Blaze found that he could see through that smirk, could see through the entire body as a matter of fact, to the stalks of greenery behind him.  
"What the hell is this?" He demanded, stepping forward and prodding at Amakaze's chest briefly with his finger. The hacker ceased to be translucent as Blaze's finger encountered warm flesh, and Blaze abruptly realized that he'd let his guard down, even as Amakaze's remaining hand came up in a punch that put a ringing into Blaze's ears and spun him around backward. Recovering quickly, Blaze took advantage of the spin and kicked out with his leg toward his opponent's unprotected stomach, and again passed through the see-through detective. Again caught off balance, he fell to the ground, glancing up at the image with confusion.  
"Just a little trick we learned long ago." Amakaze's smirk was back, now that he was in control of the fight, "It's been so long since we've had to use it that I'd almost forgotten that it was possible."  
"After all, we could either take on an opponent by ourselves..." Zandock picked up the sentence easily, and Blaze was surprised to see that he too was nearly transparent "Or we could combine in order to destroy our foes. A foe too great to beat alone, but a situation too dangerous to use our ultimate technique is seldom seen."  
"So, a variation is needed." Caspar was next, his voice dry as he explained things. He was, Blaze noticed, not displaying the strange transparency of his partners, "So, creating a less powerful connection between the three of us allows of the shunt certain aspects into a single body, in essence..."  
"In essence, turning the other two into the ghosts." Blaze was quick on his mental feet, no doubt about it, "But, of course, that leaves this technique with a fatal flaw..."  
KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!KILL!  
"And what would that be, praytell?" Amakaze's insubstantial form hovered slightly over the ground, his face gone ashen white as he struggled to shake off the voice, "What have we overlooked in our rush to your demise?"  
"Simple. You forgot the simple process of elimination." Blaze's body was relaxed and he practically lounged where he stood, "If I can't attack you, and I can't attack him, the odd man out will bear the brunt of it!" Abruptly, Blaze's relaxed pose evaporated in a sudden burst of speed as he struck out sideways with the palm of his hand, intent on venting his frustration on the blue-haired Caspar. His hand reached the hacker's chest and, again, passed through without appreciable impact. For the third time, he was caught flat-footed, and he stumbled slightly trying to readjust his weight. Pain lanced up his knee as Amakaze, now fully solid, kicked his legs out from under him. Blaze went down and bounced back to his feet quickly, to find all three of his opponents smiling again.  
"Blaze, you underestimated us once before." Amakaze said, solidly standing while his two brothers floated insubstantially beside him, "What would be the point of this technique if it focused our enemies attention on a single one of us? That, if you've noticed, is sort of the opposite of our combat style."  
"I see. A miscalculation..." Blaze raised his hands readily again, a little shaky from the impacts, "I guess if you can send your substance along one direction, you can send it the other way at need..."  
"Now you're getting it." Caspar's tone was like a patient school teacher with a slow child, "Any more bright ideas?"  
"Well, obviously, if I can't attack any one of you..." Blaze's smile was back, and it sent a shiver through Ama's back, "Then I'll attack all three at once!"  
  
---  
  
An explosion of energy erupted over his left shoulder, but Kurama was more concerned with his own fight. Mason's laughter echoed almost constantly as the buzzing creatures flew out from the soldier's fingers and exploded ferociously on impact. Even as Kurama landed on a smoldering pile of grass he could feel the heat of the last explosion wash over him, and the next bomb smashed into the ground at his feet. A cat-like back flip put him out of range of that detonation as well, but the next one was on its way.  
"You won't win by just running away!" Mason managed between fits of laughter, smoke rolling around him like some ancient God. Every available fighting space close to him was already burned and gutted with multiple explosions, "Oh, that's right, running away is the only thing you can do!"  
"Hardly." The former thief's voice was calm and unconcerned, "I've been studying your dispersion tactics, and you're far too predictable." The red-haired Yokai flipped in the air, spinning as he did so. Three roses flew unerringly over the short distance, piercing the apparently random flying bombs yet to be used. All three detonated, one of them close enough to send flames and smoke washing over the insane soldier, whose laughter turned immediately to a fit of coughing. Gasping for air as the smoke cleared, he looked up to where Kurama had been.  
Nothing.  
A soft patter of feet behind him caused him to jerk around as the Kitsune rushed him from behind, some form of his rose powers clutched between his fingers, as hard as his eyes, committed to the kill.  
"Game over, Mason." He said softly, thrusting the stiff rose stem sword forward at the man's back.  
"Not so fast, I've got one more card to play!" Mason's cackle was back, and his backpack seemed to explode outward with scraps of black cloth. Before he could understand what was going on, he felt himself jerked off his feet and slammed bodily into the hot dirt.  
His thoughts were groggy, but he tried to reach determinedly to push himself back to his feet, but found himself unable to move his arm. Snapping his eyes open, he found himself securely fastened in place by leather straps at his wrists, ankles, and across his torso. A moment's struggle, and he realized that he was bound almost entirely in place, and that the spiritually charged straps would not break with any force he could bring to bear.  
"Predictable." Mason's voice was soft, almost reflective, and as Kurama's eyes flicked up to look at him, he found an almost mournful expression on his cruel face, "I told you part of Karasu was in me, I know all about your style of combat...and yet you acted exactly like expected..."  
"What are thes-agghh!" Kurama's question cut off as the straps tightened, sending pain rushing through his entire body as the thick material cut like wire through his skin.  
"Don't you remember the little kid?" Mason chuckled slowly, "Him and his little Yo-Yos...I'm not childish enough to use toys, but I find the technique helpful." Slowly, he leveled his finger at the center of Kurama's forehead, and a tiny explosive appeared before his finger,  
"Now Die."  
  
---  
  
Hiei took a quick step back, enjoying the second to rest and recover his strength as Yusuke flew between the battling swordsmen, followed quickly by half a dozen glowing rings. Once the distraction was passed, he returned to the duel with a passion, driving Boone back with a flurry of quick strikes.  
"You're amazing." Boone's face didn't contain any sarcasm or anger, merely fascinated happiness, "You've no idea how long I've been waiting for an opponent I could fight on equal terms."  
"About as long as I have, I'd imagine." Hiei was forced to retreat as Boone somehow managed to return to the offensive again, "Any particular reason you're bringing that up now?"  
"Well, unfortunately, I was thinking we really should get on with this." Boone said regretfully, taking a few steps away for the swordsman, watching carefully for a surprise strike, "What do you say?"  
"I agree. This is wasting time." Hiei felt a quick coloring of embarrassment as he realized he'd been allowing the fight to stretch on through the sheer enjoyment of fighting, "One strike?"  
"One strike." Boone agreed, that cold smile solidly on his face as he slid his sword back into the scabbard, even as Hiei did the same. They crouched for a moment, watching the others eyes, prepared for the ultimate conclusion. Drawn from the sheath, whoever could manage the better and quicker striker would emerge victorious.  
And whoever could not would die.  
Catching sight of something in the corner of his eye, Hiei suddenly understood what it was he had to do. He felt an odd kind of sadness, one completely foreign to him. He knew, at long last, how he was going to die. He was going to die right here, on this battle field, struck down by this opponent.  
It gave him a curious kind of calm as he rushed forward, pulling the sword free of the sheath even as Boone did the same. Every step was in slow motion as the world bobbed around him. Even the explosion of light behind him seemed muted and slowed almost the point of unbearable suspense. He saw Boone's blade, saw every detail of the shining sword as it began its sweep toward his torso. His eyes fastened on a small blue bird, scared by the explosion, as it took wing from the top of one of the stalks. He saw his own muscles pulse as he brought his sword up, not toward Boone, but over his left shoulder, and with all his might, he flung the sword outward away from himself.  
Now he was going to die. But even as he resigned himself to the inevitable, his practiced eye caught sight of one tiny weakness. Distracted by the flying blade, Boone's eyes following the shining metal in its flight, his saber slowing on its course to Hiei, and trembling with the error of that distraction. Almost instinctively, Hiei gripped at Boone's sword hand, spinning around until his back was against the duelist's chest, pulling the sword along with him and downward. In almost surreal motion, the tip of the saber arced downward and touched Boone's stomach.  
The world snapped back into full motion and color as Boone screamed, his own sword piercing into him, driven by momentum halfway up the blade into his stomach, spilling crimson blood on the green grass at his feet. Even as the blonde haired man stumbled back, Hiei slipped out of the embrace and glanced to his right, if his help had come to late...  
The whole area where Mason and Kurama had been fighting was burned, torn apart by one last violent explosion.  
"Kurama!"  
  
---  
  
"Now Die." Kurama's eyes opened wide as he struggled in vain to free himself from his bonds, but it was a futile exercise, and he knew it well. There was a flash of metal to his right, and his eyes tried to track the motion as it whistled through the air toward them. Even as the image registered as a very familiar katana it had already reached them. The razor edge intercepted the floating bomb, slicing it cleanly in half without so much as a tremor. The leather strap holding Kurama's wrists together in front of him resisted slightly more then the creature, but cut just as cleanly. The sword buried itself in the sand, and Mason jerked backward, surprised by the motion from what was, to him, just over his right shoulder. Kurama's freed right hand lurched to the side, found what it was looking for, and thrust forward with dreadful impact.  
Mason wasn't laughing anymore.  
For a long moment, they remained frozen in their last positions, either due to shock or simple nerves, unable to move. Kurama was sitting up, his right hand clutching the rose weapon he had created even as warm blood sopped down between the thorns and fingers and down his torn sleeve. The Rose-Sword continued upward, passing through the center of Mason's chest where the ribs were joined, and out the shattered backpack he still wore. Mason's eyes were wide, confronted with the sudden inescapability of his own death, and his mouth half opened to speak, crimson running from the corner of his lip.  
"Ku..Kurama..."  
"It's over..." Kurama's voice chided gently, hearing an outcry of pain from behind him as Boone was stabbed. Kurama, as all professionals, understood the necessity of killing, but did not revel in it, "I'm sorry..."  
"I'm not..." Mason's tone was different, and Kurama's eye narrowed. There was genuine sadness in that voice, but none of the insanity and hatred that had marked it for so long, "..Look..."  
Kurama jerked back in surprise, releasing the sword and catching sight of what he meant. Around the wound, even as the blood flowed out of the soldier, hissing black smoke was emerging, seeming to sparkle with energy in the air as it dissipated, "What...What is that...?"  
"The powers...they put inside me..." Mason panted, having trouble catching his breath as one lung folded in on itself, "I...I can be...me again....not...him..." Slowly, his hand reached forward, grasping at the air. Reluctantly, no longer as sure as it had before, one of the flat bombs appear between his fingertips. When his voice came again, it was sure and firm, "Walk away Kurama...I need to finish this..."  
The red-haired Kitsune regarded the man soberly, and reluctantly turned his back on him. Walking with measured paces, he did not jump as the explosion detonated behind him, the wind pushing his long hair forward in front of his eyes. Stray wisps of smoke flowed past him, but he did not turn back to the enemy defeated.  
"Kurama!" A familiar voice cried, and he mustered the energy to lift his hand and pull Hiei's attention to where he stood. Within a moment, the smaller demon was at his side, looking him over for signs of injury, lingering for a moment on the eyes.  
"Kurama?"  
"What are they turning these men into?" Kurama's shout was as sudden as it was unexpected, driving Hiei back a step, "What are they doing to these people?"  
"We made our choice." Both demons jumped, turning to look behind them. Boone was sitting up on his elbows, his bloody sword clutched white- knuckled in his right hand, "As all people must. And we live with them..." His eyes tracked sideways, fastening slowly onto Hiei, "I..I would like to know...how you did that...before I go..."  
"You're an excellent swordsman." Hiei said shortly, watching the spread of blood over the front of Boone's shirt, and the spread of glowing yellow energy that dissipated from the cut, he didn't have long to speak, "I could never beat you in your arena. So I changed the game."  
The energy was beginning to slow its emergence as Boone's eyes half closed, his body losing the fight with gravity, "I see...I shall face my father without...shame see me...when...you..." The glow of energy ceased, the life in his eyes did likewise, and Conner Boone was dead. Hiei looked over the scorched and bloody battlefield, where his blackened sword stuck out from the earth, one shred of burned leather still clinging to the blade.  
"I will, Boone, I will..." He turned back to Kurama, "Come...for the moment at least, it's over."  
  
---  
  
The engine roared as it passed, and Suzaku almost didn't manage to get out of the way. The sharp edged knife caught a fold of his clothing, but no skin. The Saint Beast staggered slightly, feeling the warm liquid running from his sliced stomach down his leg, aggravated by all his movement. Joaquin hadn't landed a hit since that first knife blow, but the wound was slowing him and Joaquin would only get faster.  
"Tired, Monstruo?" The Spanish man brought the bike to a halt, leaning on the handlebars casually, "You're looking a bit...how you say...'pale in the face'."  
"Blood loss tends to have that effect on a person." Suzaku managed to smile, trying not to show his growing panic, "It would, however, be easier if I could hit you with my attacks..."  
"Si, it would." Joaquin actually chuckled, "But, it is not possible. In here, my bike has more spirit power then you could damage." His right hand revved the engine without warning, spinning in a tight circle before charging at the former demon again, his left hand bringing up the knife, his motorcycle glowing blue with spiritual force.  
Spiritual Force! That was it!  
Suzaku did not call the lightning to him, nor did he crouch in preparation for the coming attack. He stood still as the bike raced toward him. He saw Joaquin's brow wrinkle slightly in confusion, and he wondered if the soldier thought he was committing suicide. In fact, he wondered if that's what he was doing as well. At the very least, this was going to hurt a great deal. He remaining motionless and Joaquin drove the bike straight into him.  
The impact was staggering, forcing the air out of Suzaku's lungs as the bike hit him full tilt. Pain lanced up every part of his body, and his vision exploded in stars as he instinctively folded around the hit, slamming his head into the bike's visor. For a split second, he forgot was he was trying to accomplish and screamed in pain.  
Then, in that moment, he called the lightning.  
The bolt of electricity answered his summons from the stormy skies above. It arced toward his waiting hand, ready to be joined with spirit energy and formed into the Storm of Torment. Along the way, it impacted solidly with Joaquin's back. Joaquin's bike could absorb any form of spiritual attack, but the bolt that had just hit him was pure and unadulterated electricity. It lanced through him as he opened his mouth to scream, ran quickly through the cold metal of the bike, and through Suzaku himself. Suzaku felt a quick flash of pain, and then total darkness.  
Suzaku came too slowly, his muscles protesting this latest treatment of them. Wincing slowly, he opened his eyes into slits, and surveyed the scene. A twisted and fused mess of metal was on the ground beside him, and he assumed that was all that remained of the shiny motorcycle. Of the driver, he saw nothing at all.  
"Your little friend ran off before we got here." Suzaku identified the voice as Hiei's, but wasn't able to move his head far enough to confirm it with his eyes, "It seemed he didn't like your final gambit."  
"What is it about your plans..." Kurama began, gently pulling the Saint Beast into a more or less sitting position, "That leave you within a scant inch of your life?"  
"Natural talent I guess." Suzaku murmured as Kurama held some sort of plant in front of him. The fragrance was soothing, and the former demon was suddenly very sleepy.  
"You need to rest."  
"Sounds good." Suzaku yawned, stretching as far as his strained muscles would allow, "'Night Kur'ma, be sure to wake me if the bad guys crash the party, 'kay?"  
"Will do." Kurama replied, but futilely, the violet eyes were closed and the breathing regular.  
"Idiot." Hiei sniffed, and Kurama laughed briefly,  
"I don't know...with last ditch efforts like that, I think he fits right in with the crew."  
  
---  
  
"Is that all you have?" Blaze was more tired then he acting, Amakaze was certain of it. However, as he picked himself up slowly from a face plant in the ground, he conceded that it didn't particularly matter at this moment. The hackers had forced him to expend extra energy by attacking all three of them, but the plain fact was that he was stronger then any of them individually.  
"Sorry to...disappoint.." Caspar swallowed hard, clearly in much the same straits as his brother, which is to say, not particularly good, "But I think that's pretty close to it."  
Destroy him, Amakaze, release the power within you. Return to your true self, as you were meant to be. Just for a little bit, of course, just for this one fight...You could be a hero, and earn the respect of Yusuke and his little crew...Think about it, you could take Blaze all by yourself, and why not? You know yourself better then Koenma, you can control it...  
-Ama! Snap out of it!- Zandocks voice blared in his head, drowning out that seductive voice, and, with a start, he found his arms furred with white down as the power within him grew. With and effort, he forced the change back, feeling that wonderful power dwindle as he did so.  
"What's all that about anyway?" Blaze cocked his head, still curious about the almost change, after seeing it twice, "You looked different..."  
"Family problems." Amakaze said shortly, staggering to his feet, his arm stretched out in front of him. Slowly, his fingers began to glow blue in preparation, he readied himself to play the cat-and-mouse game again.  
"Not this time, Ama!" Blaze's hand snapped into his belt, pulling off a black disk from the side. He jabbed a button on the side of the disk as he thrust it forward, and it flew perfectly, landing at the feet of both Caspar and Zandock as they instinctively sent their substance to Ama, becoming ghost-like yet again.  
But the grenade did not explode in fire or shrapnel, but instead gave a beeping sort of hiss as the side snapped open. Abruptly, Amakaze felt himself lighten as he was suddenly reduced to his own weight as his brothers became solid once again. He reeled back, trying to understand how Blaze had cut off the link...  
"It blocks off Spirit Energy like the Iron Curtain!" Caspar had gotten it first, struggling to reverse his momentum and get himself out of whatever area was affected.  
"Look out, Ama!" Zandock cried out, and Amakaze snapped his head around. Blaze was advancing on him, leaping through the air and spinning in what Ama knew would be a punishing kick to take. He had temporarily cut of Ama's escape route, and he was attacking.  
Once Amakaze was dead, he could deal with the other two.  
SAVE YOUR BROTHERS!  
The Voice screamed in his head, and Amakaze's hand snapped up instinctively. Blue energy erupted from his body as he howled, tapping into that energy within him, just for the slightest moment. Blaze saw it coming, of course, and as the thick blast began to emerge from Amakaze's fingertips, he altered his kick, swinging instead at that hand. His heavy boot impacted with the back of the hacker's knuckles, sending his hand a few precious inches off as the energy erupted.  
Amakaze's spirit gun was smaller and more precise then Yusuke, and this desperate strike was no different. It raced through the air on a straight line, burning through bits of leaves and smoke as it passed, undeterred by the swirling tornado of winds, and barely slowed by the back, heart, and chest of the woman floating in mid-air. The glowing energy pierced her completely, shining like an arrow for a moment before fading into the sunny distance. Strife's wind died around her as she lost her grip on those powers, and he body flailed through the air, hitting the dirt with a horrible thud.  
Blaze screamed, a horrible wail of rage and pain that seemed like it would set the very air on the fire. His body exploded in motion as he slapped his hand out, crashing bruisingly into Amakaze and sending the blonde-haired boy bouncing on the rocks like a rock thrown at a pond. The soldier rushed to his subordinate's side, lifting her bloody face and cradling it in his hands.  
"Jessica!" Blaze brushed her red hair back from her eyes, watching for any sign of life, "Jessica! Jessica, please wake up, please don't leave me here!"  
"Vincie?" Her eyes opened reluctantly, and even more reluctantly focused on her lover, "Vincie, is that...?"  
"I'm here." He confirmed, smiling even as tears pricked at his eyes. Green energy formed around his hands as he pressed it over her wound, "I'll heal you up, and then we can take care of the rest of them and-."  
"No..." Her voice was quiet, but there was steel underneath it. Slowly, her hands came up and pushed his away, "No, Vince.."  
"What? Jessy..I..." Blaze struggled to find the words, "I need to heal you...I need to be with you..."  
"You...You haven't been..." Strife's eyes were moist as he gently cupped Blaze's cheek. Slowly, sparkling pink energy was draining from her chest, lighting up the area between them, "Don't you...understand...they've used us..."  
"No...we're doing the right thing..." Blaze started, but she cut him off harshly,  
"Open your eyes, Vince!" She flared, showing some of her old fire, "The stuff they gave us...look what it did to John...Look at Conner, or Robert, or me..." Tears were filling her eyes now, "I couldn't...I couldn't feel anything, Vincent...I...I would rather live just a minute longer, loving you...then forever like that..." For a long time he studied the featured of the woman he loved, watching those horrible grey eyes return to the deep emerald he'd fallen in love with. He tried to smile, but it came out twisted.  
"You always were the realist."  
"You always were the idealist..."  
"I..."  
"Find...Matthews, Blaze....he's the one...who killed Avery...He's the one..."  
"I'll find him, Love." Blaze said gently, watching as the glow of pink energy slowed, entwining his fingers with hers.  
"Kis...Kiss me, Vincie?"  
"Of course..." Slowly, he bent over her, pressing his lips to her with an almost infinite gentleness. When he raised his face, she was gone.  
"I love you, Jessica." He said softly, rising slowly. His eyes flowed over the battlefield as though seeing it for the first time. The scorched earth and Mason's blackened body. The puddle of blood at the end of Boone's sword, and the twisted wreckage of Joaquin's bike. He saw the relay station, bent but still standing, and the body of his fiancée.  
And finally, he looked at Amakaze.  
"Blaze..." The youth's face was pale, and he looked like he was going to be sick. His voice stuttered as he fought his shocked reaction to make words, "I...I didn't mean."  
"Here I am, Ama, a husband." Blaze cut him off harshly, "Taking away your life." Before anyone could stop him, he crossed the distance and pressed his hand down on Amakaze's chest. The spiritual energy pulsed and Amakaze felt, in exquisite detail, every bone in his chest shatter. He collapsed limply, unable to even scream in pain, and the darkness closed around his vision. Somehow, he managed to look up at Blaze as the other knelt.  
"And here is Jessica." Blaze managed, his voice nearly giving out on him again, "The woman you killed, giving it back to you." Vincent Blaze entwined his hands over Ama, and the green glow bathed through the broken body. No one spoke as the two stood frozen for a long minute, and Blaze finally turned away, his shining medals covered in the blood of his enemy and the blood of what would have been his wife.  
"V...Vincent..." Amakaze stretched out his left hand, wondering at it and trying to see around the tears that blurred his vision, "Vincent!"  
Blaze paused for a moment, and stretched out his hand. Crackling energy erupted from it, slamming into the relay tower and destroying it in a heartbeat. As he did so, the energy lurched and twisted as the Iron Curtain system crashed down on itself, and slowly the levels returned to normal, spreading energy across the city once more. Slowly, Vincent Blaze bent and picked up Strife's body, one arm under her head and the other under her legs, like a groom at the start of the honeymoon.  
"Yusuke." Blaze said over his shoulder, and the spirit detective stiffened, "I'm going to end this, once and for all. If I can't, you must." The man strode down the hill as the day darkened with the coming storm, and was gone.  
And with one long despairing cry, Amakaze screamed. 


	33. Chapter 26: Soldier of Love Defeated!

Chapter 26: The Soldier of Love Defeated  
  
Amakaze sat silently on top of the hill, his white hair swaying in the light updraft around his immobile expression. His eyes alternatied between staring blankly into the setting sun or watching his outstretched hands as though viewing a drama in them that no one else could see. His left hand, recently returned through Blaze's amazing healing technique, was as vibrant and workable as the original which had been blown off, and it bore none of the scars of life that Amakaze had acquired.  
Slowly, his head drooped until it was cupped in his hands, and he wept. Across the way, several forms stirred fitfully in the growing shadows, unnoticed by the former spirit detective.  
"What is he doing?" Yusuke murmured, idly shredding bits of grass between his fingertips, "Do you think one of us should talk to him?"  
"No." That was Zandock and Caspar, speaking more sharply then they had intended. Clearly, they had seen their brother in this state before, and knew better then to get involved. Their explanation for it, when pressed, was a less then helpful, "It happens."  
"You'll admit, Yusuke, that killing someone other then your target, particularly when that person can die a slow and painful death in the arms of their lover, who happens to be a person you respect..." Kurama's voice was measured and precise, the telltale sign of deep thought behind his emerald eyes, "...It is not a thing easily shrugged off."  
"So what do we do?" Yusuke asked, watching his predecessor with a mixture of compassion and impatience, "Koenma will be back soon with the crew, and we'll need to move out."  
"That's exactly what we do." Zandock's tone brooked no argument, "Koenma will set him straight. He did before."  
"This has happened before?"  
Neither hacker answered.  
  
---  
  
It was the ease of it, Blaze reflected, that was the truly worrying thing. Emotions are the seat of human existence, and the ability to suppress them, even temporarily, is both difficult and dangerous. The stronger the emotion, the more likely it was to bubble out and override the conscious mind and body. By all rights, he should be thrown into complete madness by the conflicting anger, sorrow, and guilt. Most of all guilt...  
But here he was, shirtless in the dim light of the setting sun. The feeble rays shining off his sweat soaked limbs as he shoveled dirt out of the grave. Panting with exertion, he leaned back and surveyed the fruits of his labor. It would suffice.  
Slowly, even reluctantly, he turned back to the still form beside the hole. Jessica Strife's face was calm, her features no longer torn with uncertainties of life. The fading sun created a halo of purest light behind her features, and that seemed altogether appropriate to Blaze.  
"We've come a long way, haven't we?" He said softly, but her face did not respond to him. He didn't expect it to, "I...I thought this is where you would want to be. It's the place I saw you happiest...the place that I was happiest...So I thought I would let you be here. If I can, I'll join you here...once my task is done." He bent, cradling her form in his arms protectively before lowering her gently into the dirt opening. His eyes rose of their own accord, watching the large tree that shaded the grave where his life now lay.  
Not long ago, that tree had shaded the two of them, on that day....  
  
_"This is a beautiful hill, Vincie" Jessica's voice lilted beautifully over the rich green grass, "I didn't know there was such a beautiful view from this area."  
"Most people don't." Blaze admitted, leaning back on the picnic blanket and sliding his free hand into hers, "My mother used to come out here whenever my father was away. She said that, when see was here, it was like being with my father. This is where they met..."  
"Your mother was quite a woman." Jessica squeezed his hand briefly, and a thrill ran straight through his body, "Is she still around?"  
"On occasion." Blaze shrugged, using the motion as an excuse to wrap his arm around her shoulders, "She remarried a few years after my father was killed in that training accident. I was already a grown man, so my step- father and I were faced with a bit of a pickle. So we just stay out of each others way, but I make sure to take her out to this hill on Thursdays."  
"That's nice." She murmured, and then glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, a faint smile touching her lips, "What is it?"  
"Hhhmm?" He glanced at her, confusion in his voice. Gently, she poked his ribs with a slender hand.  
"Don't play the innocent with me." Jessica chided, her brilliant smile dazzling white in the bright sunlight, "You don't do anything at the drop of a hat, and you would have shown me this place before, unless you had some reason not to. So, what is it?"  
"Well.." Blaze paused, struggling for a moment to come up with the proper words, "This is part of my life...And I decided I wanted to share it with you..."  
"The hill?" She laughed amusedly, "It's very nice, but why-."  
"Not, not the hill." He correctly mildly, and seeing her confusion, stumbled onward, "My life."  
"Vincie...?" She breathed, getting it quickly, "Are you asking me to marry you...?"  
"Well, I know it's a bit sudden and all that." He apologized quietly, "And it wouldn't be until after we finished the assignment with Avery's squads, but I was thinking maybe, if you wanted to, we might-." Whatever he was going to say we lost as she threw herself into his arms, kissing him hard enough to leave a bruise, not that he noticed or cared. For a long moment, they remained in that position, with her lying in his arms, their lips locked as immobile as the earth they sat on. Only when they needed to breathe did they, slowly, pull back.  
"So..." Blaze grinned widely, "Can I take that as a yes?"  
_  
That had been the best week of his life. When they'd arrived on base, the combined personnel of the newly minted squadrons had thrown a grand wedding party designed to outclass anything ever shown, and they'd succeeded. Long before Urameshi or the injections or anything had started to go wrong, Blaze was happy.  
And now that was gone. Wolf squadron was gone, Skull and Guinness were nearly demolished. Conner Boone was dead. John Mason was dead. Avery was dead. Jessica was dead. Jessica...  
His eyes closed as he shoveled the last drop of earth back on top of the grave, padding it down flat with the side of the shovel. Tossing aside the tool, he wouldn't need it anymore, he gently laid a garland of flowers over the crude cross marking the spot where she lay. Etched into the wood of the cross was the only effigy she would have wanted: Jessica Blaze: 'Wife'.  
When Blaze's eyes opened again, they were dry. He picked up his discarded jacket and slipped it around his bare chest with familiarity born of practice. Without looking behind him, he strode off into the growing darkness.  
He had a monster to kill.  
  
---  
  
The APC clattered over the dirt road between the fields, coming to a slightly unsteady halt by Yusuke and his group. The rear ramp folded out, and Koenma's disguised form strode out quickly, followed by the remainder of the necessary alliance. Jin, Touya, Shishi Wakamaru, Suzuka, Chu, and even Rinku had agreed to sign on until the threat was eliminated and, to a man, they were ready to do so.  
"Are we ready?" Koenma asked, glancing between the powerful fighters, "Anything left undone?" None of the group stirred at first until, slowly, Caspar and Zandock point at the still Amakaze. The white-haired spirit detective was still seated on the edge of the hill, his fingers spinning a set of ball bearings, and his mind a million miles away.  
"He got Strife." Zandock explained shortly, but relief was visible on his features, "And she..."  
"She looked a lot like..." Caspar broke off, glancing between those gathered before finishing differently, "...a lot like the last time..."  
"Ah." Koenma paused, glancing at the sky for a long moment. Afterwards, he nodded curtly to the group, "Please excuse me." The robed spirit ruler walked with great ranging strides toward the white-haired detective. He paused directly in front of the other, and Amakaze's eyes drifted upward, lost in misery.  
And then Koenma kicked him squarely in the face.  
There was a startled exclamation behind Koenma as Amakaze went down, sputtering with surprise and indignation. The hacker bounced back quickly, throwing himself at the disguised form and lashing out with a full force punch. Koenma's hand snaked out, grasping at Amakaze's wrist and twisting the punch downward. Thrown off balance, the spirit detective's own momentum pulled him down onto Koenma's upraised knee.  
The knee drove all the air out of Amakaze as it impacted solidly with his gut. Bonelessly, he slumped down onto his knees, clutching at his midsection and gasping for breath.  
"You seem at a loss for your duties." Koenma told him tonelessly, his face completely unreadable, "Recite your duties, starting on the outside." There was a slight scuffle behind him as Zandock and Caspar started forward, and we restrained gently by Kurama and Suzaku.  
"Last Duty...A Spirit...Detective, must preserve...himself..." Amakaze gasped, struggling to his feet with blood in his eye, "He does no good...after dying, and should do...what it takes to insure his own survival!" The last of the sentence was a shout as he rushed again, his hands blurring in a dizzying display of organized strike. Each connected with nothing more then Koenma's forearm as the other parried each blow. Again, his hand gripped Amakaze's and the hacker went flying into the dirt as Koenma exerted himself in another throw.  
"Your memory still seems faulty!" Koenma's voice was calm, but his eyes never left the struggling youth, "Continue!"  
"Tertiary Duty, A Spirit Detective must obey orders." Amakaze's voice was vibrant and strong as he picked himself up again, "He must fulfill his duties and his objectives, even at the cost of his own life!" Amakaze's hands blazed with energy gathered into deadly points on his fingers. Both hand erupted with the laser-like Spirit Gun, and Koenma turned sideways, threading between the bolts and grabbing a wrist once more.  
Which is exactly what Amakaze had been waiting for. Twisting his hand around, HE grabbed KOENMA'S wrist and pulled downward with all his strength, flipping the Spirit Ruler over his shoulder. Impossibly, the disguised form twisted in the air and landed on his feet. Once balanced, Koenma's leg snapped out in a kick that knocked Amakaze's footing out from under him, and spilled him back onto the earth.  
"Continue."  
"Secondary Duty. A spirit detective must preserve...life." All the fire went out of the youth in a rush as he lay on the ground, "Even at the cost of his own life or the mission...Koenma...I..."  
"Don't make excuses. Continue."  
"Primary Duty..." Amakaze trailed off, his eyes suddenly lighting up with realization, "A spirit detective must preserve humanity. At the cost of his life, the mission, or any others."  
"Which is nothing more then you did. Setting the woman free from the horrible curse inflicted on her." Koenma told him, his unreadable face suddenly cracking with compassion, "Right, Spirit Detective?"  
"I can't keep doing this, Koenma..."  
"Just once more." Koenma assured him, offering his hand. Slowly, almost reluctantly, Amakaze took it and climbed onto his feet. The two turned toward the crowd of spectators, and Amakaze nodded with sudden determination.  
"Alright. Let's go save humanity."  
  
---  
  
"I can't let you through, Sir." The guard stepped in front of the door, putting his hand up in warding, "The Commander has asked not to be disturbed."  
"The Commander will be disturbed." Blaze's voice was as ice-cold as his heart, "And you, Sid, will be needing a trip to the doctor if you try to stop me again." The Lieutenant glanced into the guard's eyes, and Sid suddenly decided that he was standing in the wrong place. Just as quickly, he rectified the situation by moving to the side. With a quick nod, Blaze slapped at the control and the door slid open.  
Colonel Jackson was startled and the surprise was written all over his face. He jumped to his feet, grasping for his long-unused sidearm. Blaze's eyes flicked to the engineer, and it was almost over for him in a single moment. Fortunately for Jackson, Matthews waved him off with an unconcerned flick of the wrist.  
"Please, Colonel. The Prodigal Son he might be, he would certainly be a match for you." Slowly, his black leather chair swiveled around and Matthews smiled at the deadly soldier before him, "It's good to see you, Vincent, did you need something?"  
"I do." Blaze nodded slowly, "I want to know why."  
"The usual I expect. Infinite power, the world at my feet, that sort of thing." The expensive suit rubbed against the leather silkily as the man stood, "I don't kid myself into thinking that it's a particularly unique thought, but I have to admit it's appealing." Jackson, Blaze noticed, was staring with uncontrolled surprise at Matthews.  
"I expect so." Blaze's tone was noncommittal.  
"You could have joined with me, you know." Matthews continued, turning away and clasping his arms together behind his back, "You could have continued to serve me. We would have created an army and brought down Japan from the inside out. From there, we could slip hundreds of infiltrators across the American border, with powers that can't be explained. A few weeks at most, and we could be the most powerful faction in the world. You could still rule with me, but you won't. You won't allow yourself to. Perhaps you would be so good as to tell me why?"  
"I'm afraid that my stomach can't take that much sheer treachery."  
"Ah yes. A clever response, but not entirely true I think." Matthews half turned, his eyes reflecting the smirk tugging at his lips, "Could it have anything to do with the death of your 'beloved', Jessica?"  
"It might." Blaze's teeth was clenched at he glared at the short blue-eyed enemy in civilian clothes.  
"Ah. It's an interesting thing about that..." Matthews continued, his smirk growing, "I engineered her injections myself, and it made her pliable to about any kind of command from authority. Very helpful I've found, if you're interested in the bits under her jumpsuit. She was very nice, I must say."  
"You're lying." Blaze blurted before he could manage any other sort of reply.  
"You mean you didn't know?" Matthews laughed, a hard and chilling sound, "Weren't you her fiancée? Perhaps you were saving it for marriage...I guess she died a week too early...or a week too late if you wanted to be the first, I suppose she-"  
Something within Blaze snapped. He tossed his head back and howled as his rage pounded through his body. Thick tendrils of electric energy sparkled to life all around him, until it was almost impossible to see him under the energy he was creating. The shining form in the center of the room pointed its arms at Matthews, as the smirking villain stumbled back with a look very much like fear on his face.  
"Take this, you bastard!" Blaze's voice was almost lost in the howl of fierce energy, "My love! The Love you stole from me...!" The form that was Blaze spread its hands slightly, and a ball of energy sprang into existence between his palms. Vincent cleared his mind, thinking back onto all the times they had been together. Quiet moments together, just him and Jessica, when they could finally let down their guards and trust other human beings. Immediately, it grew and expanded until it burned like a miniature sun of white energy.  
"...my anger, the hatred you gave me...!" The white energy was suddenly tinged in sooty redness. The burning red-white sphere erupted anew, sending red lightening bolts out from it with the sheer expanse of power attempting to be controlled. Matthews stumbled back from the red strike of vengeance, shielding his eyes from the ever brightening light.  
"...And all of my sorrow, the sorrow I wouldn't have felt! Take it all Matthews!" The red became blue as the entire room shook with the forces being gathered. Abruptly, the lights overhead shorted out, the computer screens along the walls fried and began to melt under the onslaught. Wind swirled in a vortex around them, filling the air with tiny bits of debris. Matthews was shouting something, but his voice didn't make a dent in the horrible roar of the coming attack.  
"Take it, and die, Matthews!"  
Blaze relaxed his control on the energy, and he felt it burn through him like a fire, energy too powerful to be contained by any human form. The entire room exploded with light as the sphere, in one moment, leaped from the outstretched fingers and impacted. Light, painful light blinding even through Blaze's closed eyelids, rocked the room from the inside, sending shockwaves out to bounce off of and deform the reinforced steel walls. Blaze, his body weak, found himself thrown off his feet by the force of the explosion as the energy finally really ignited, erupting with even more fury then before...  
  
---  
  
"What on earth!" Koenma exclaimed, nearly crashing the APC into a street sign as he automatically swerved off the road. No one noticed, nor offered a quip about his driving skills. To a man, they were far too startled for speech. It was Yusuke, unsurprisingly, that found his voice first.  
"What the hell was that!" He demanded, flinching as the psychic aftershocks rippled out after the main shockwave that had crossed them, "Was it spirit energy?"  
"There's no way..." Hiei mouthed, before he could stop himself, "Not a strike like that! Nothing can account for energy like that!"  
"Let's hope that was Blaze's Revenge..." Koenma said gravely, pulling the truck back onto the road, "...rather then some new horror, or well all be in trouble."  
None of the group said it, no one wanted to voice it aloud, but they were all thinking the same correction. If that was some new horror, they were simply dead...  
  
---  
  
Blaze gasped, his mouth feeling like a desert. His grasp brought in too much of the smoke that filled the air, and he went into an extended fit of hacking, with each breath making things worse then the last. A distant sensation of pain touched his mind, and he gazed down on his hands.  
His arms steamed, smoke rising in rivulets from under the skin that still bubbled with the heat unleashed. He observed the burns clinically, but was too emotionally detached to really register the full extent of the pain. It was over...  
The smoke was still thick in the blackened room as Vincent Blaze stood, his medals still shining with his years of honorable service, above and beyond the call of duty. Gently, he tossed a mock salute to the center of the smoking impact and turned to leave.  
He was halfway to the door when the first gunshot split the air. Pain, distant and remote, tickled at his shoulder as the bullet pushed in, spinning him around to face the opposite way. Another gunshot, and another bullet came screaming out of the smoke to pass through the other shoulder, stopping Blaze's spin and allowing him to fall limply to the earth.  
"Matthews..." Blaze's mind was sluggish to reconcile the man's survival, but emotional pain, like the physical variety, could not touch his coldness, "...How..."  
"I agreed to answer why, not how." Matthews stepped lightly out of the heavy smoke, his suit in perfect array, with only a small oozing cut over his cheek to show that he'd been hit at all, "I believe that almost concludes our business here..." As he spoke, green sparkling energy was rising from Blaze's wounds, rising and coming to rest in Matthews' outstretched hand. As it did, the small cut on his cheek glowed briefly and vanished.  
"Now then, you can die."  
Defeated, Blaze closed his eyes, pulling up his memory of his fiancée. Her brilliant smile, her fiery personality, and the way she always knew what needed to be done. He laugh echoed in his head as he took himself far far away from that tiny smoking room, and the horrible man with the gun. The gunfire echoed again, bouncing off the warped walls with a weird sort of echo.  
"I was expecting more." Matthews muttered, watching the pool of crimson spread slowly from the corpse. "What a disappointment." Over his shoulder, he heard a weapon clear leather and lock into a ready firing position. With a sigh, Matthews turned around.  
Colonel Jackson and his two former guards, Sid and Richard, were pointing guns at him.  
"Sir..." Jackson's voice was shaking, but firm, "I'm relieving you of your command until you can face a Court-Marshal. Your actions are unbecoming for an officer of the-."  
"Oh shut up." Matthews snapped, rolling his eyes, "You don't have the rank to countermand me. I have authority over this entire facility."  
"I have to rank to accomplish it if you have committed a crime, including murder." Jackson replied steadily, "You will accompany me back to your quarters, where you will remain under house arrest until-." Matthews tuned him out, closing his eyes. It was about time he starting preparing for the grand push anyway.  
He left his senses expand outward, feeling the pathetically fragile energy that emanated from all three men, but that wasn't what he was looking for. He let his mind drift outward, feeling the confused senses running up and down the halls, and the sleepy discontent of those roused from sleep in the crew quarters, the semi-alert watchfulness of the guards at the gate. His mind extended over the entire base, and he felt every tiny mind within it.  
With a brief push, like brushing away a spider web, he broke into those minds, though the walls and barriers that those weaker then he would consider unbreakable. He saw into their minds and souls, and reformed the innards into the desired shape like clay for a potter. Satisfied, he returned to the body that had contained his will for so long.  
Jackson, Sid, and Richard were standing stock still like every other drone in the building. Their guns were clasped loosely in their hands, forgotten by their conscious minds. The thought of threatening Matthews was impossible, he was their...  
"Master..." All their mumbled in unison, and Matthews allowed himself a tight smile before striding from the room.  
"Urameshi might think he's won..." He declared ominously, "But we haven't BEGUN to fight!" 


	34. Chapter 27: Decisive Battle Begins!

**Chapter 27: The Decisive Battle Begins**

"Relax, Yusuke, getting tense won't help you." Amakaze reclined in the uncomfortable seat, as confidant and cool as he was uncertain and scrambled right after the battle, "If you let the tension gets to you, you start making mistakes."

"Well, it's not like I do this sort of thing everyday..." Yusuke grumbled, glancing around the confines of the APC. The hard metal seats were built directly into the walls, with ten along each wall. Caspar was behind the wheel, with Zandock in the passenger seat beside him. Which left only a little over half the rear seats filled, else the trip might have been severely more uncomfortable.

"Loosen up, Urameshi." Chu put in, pulling one of the many bottles from a bag, "Why don't you two have a little sip, just to take the edge off?"

"I don't drink when I'm fighting." Yusuke declined, distrustful of the exactly how much of an edge Chu's drink might take off.

"I don't mind if I d-." Amakaze was in the process of reaching forward for the bottle when a tanned hand reached across and grabbed his own. Amakaze winced; the white knuckled grip on his wrist a lot tighter then it seemed from outward appearance.

"You don't drink." Zandock said shortly, holding his brother's eye for a long moment before releasing his grip and pulling his arm back over the top of his seat. Amakaze sighed a bit, but nodded, pushing the proffered bottle away,

"I don't drink anymore." He said quietly, "By virtue of the wonders of democratic leadership."

"The what of what?" Chu blinked at him,

"We'll punch him in the face if he does." Caspar translated, not taking his eyes off the road as he turned the vehicle around the corner, "He's got enough problems with self control without being smashed too...in both senses of the word."

"Suit yourself." Chu was not overly perturbed by the refusal, and began to guzzle directly from the bottle. Rinku rolled his eyes in silent annoyance, but said nothing.

"Anyway, when things start to get rough with Matthews, I suggest you let my brothers and I handle it." Amakaze changed the subject abruptly, casting a dark glance back at Zandock and Caspar, "We've been doing this a long time, and we have a better chance of resolving this thing quickly then you do."

"And why is that?" Yusuke didn't really feel anything as obvious as professional pride, but that suggestion still rankled him, "I thought you'd use all the help you can get."

"We might at that." Amakaze nodded distractedly, "No one knows exactly who or what Matthews has turned himself into, But you don't have half our experience dealing with these things, Yusuke, and you'd need them for this. Besides, you're the highest priority of Spirit Detective, and we'd rather not risk it."

"If you guys have so many more skills then me, why am I the one you don't want to risk?"

"Oh, we've got the experience. We've got the skills and the will. We've even got the coordination to best yours." Amakaze admitted freely, his tone taking out any possible sting from the words, "You've got something we don't though. Specifically, you've got the power and the reliability we lack."

"Reliability? Yusuke?" The words slipped out before Kurama could stop them, and that earned him a black look from the younger spirit detective.

"It's the lineage that's a bit different in our cases." Amakaze said quietly, "Hakudou, you see, was a very evil demon. One of the worst on record, in fact. When we beat him, he left a bit of himself behind, a little piece of his mind in ours. Combined with the addiction of demon energy, and we can get-."

"You're not talking my language." Yusuke interjected, offering a slight smile as the APC rolled on, "Why don't you start from the beginning, you were a little rushed when we went over it." Amakaze sighed briefly, leaning back in his seat as if searching for exactly the right words for something that didn't have them.

"Hakudou, as I said, was a very unpleasant demon. He cut a swath through the Spirit Defense Force, and an identical slice through the masses of demons that wanted to take him down on general principles. He had power, to be sure, and perfected techniques of such elegance and frightening efficiency that they're still legendary."

"I heard rumors about him, once." Hiei offered, stoically remaining outwardly uninterested in the story, "Some say that he'd rule the human world and spirit world both if he hadn't disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Shortly after he...met...our mother." Amakaze's tone and the sudden uncomfortable shifting of Caspar and Zandock told Yusuke that 'Met' was not the word the other would have chosen to use, "He vanished off the face of the earth. He traveled to the spirit world, staked out a claim in the middle of nowhere, and annihilated anyone that drifted close."

"Why?" Yusuke blurted, and Amakaze flashed him a bit of smile. As sad as the story might be, there was a certain kick in having an audience with an interest.

"Simple. Pure unadulterated Ego. Hakudou reasoned that the only being in the universe with enough power to hurt him was, well, him. Spirit World didn't care as long as he didn't make trouble, and he was able to alter his techniques without so much as an errant operative peeking in on him."

"Altered them how?"

"He made himself immune to his own attacks. He somehow managed to alter them fundamentally to be absolutely harmless to himself. And, as an added bonus, anyone who WASN'T him found the techniques even more deadly. Once he was finished, he brushed past the Spirit World's border patrol, peeled back the barrier, and slipped into the human world to bring it to a heel..." Amakaze trailed off, his eyes going distant. When it became clear that the former spirit detective wasn't paying any further attention to the conversation, Yusuke had to ask,

"And? What happened?"

"Hhmm? Surely you're not so interested in an old story, are you?" Amakaze chuckled softly to himself, and flashed another smile, though it was a trifle strained, "Hakudou forgot one simple detail. The woman he'd raped, so long ago, was still alive. He rectified the situation...and we found him. We were, in a sense, part of him, and that spelled his own undoing. All his precious techniques were as useless against his spawn as it would have been against himself. We fought him, we killed him, and Koenma took us in...We're doing the right thing now, but Hakudou, our father, left some portion of his mind in us during that final bout. It...It screams to get out, to finish the destruction of the human world like he wished. That's why we wear the collars unless we need to take them off..."

"Demon energy isn't like human energy." Zandock put in, without turning around, "It feels...good...to use. Above and beyond the power you feel using energy, demon energy is an addiction."

Yusuke turned to look at the other passengers in the truck, all of which seemed to be nodding grimly with this little revelation. Kurama was the first to voice it aloud,

"Most demons are completely enslaved to it." He told the spirit detective grimly, "They spend their power as soon as it accumulates, just to get another 'hit' so to speak. It doesn't matter whether it's warranted or what they spend it on, the act of spending it is pleasure enough."

The APC slowed as Caspar applied the breaks smoothly. The heavy truck continued forward for a few seconds before screeching to a steady halt. Applying on of the levers in near the passenger seats, Zandock popped the rear doors, letting the recycled air give way to the cold smell of the night.

"Ready to save the world gentlemen?"

---

"Think they know we're up here?" Caspar asked, leaning upward to see over the hill and down onto the military base, whispering back to his brothers.

"No, not really." Amakaze whispered back, rolling his eyes, "Why would you think that? Just because the entire company is lined up on this side of the base in perfect military formation after sundown and facing this direction...It's just a coincidence."

"I was being rhetorical."

"You were being stupid."

"Do you even know what rhetorical means?"

"Do _I_ know what rhetorical means?!"

"Can we get on with it?" Yusuke snapped at the two, sighing a bit with pent-up frustration, "If they know we're here, and we know they know, why are we still here?"

"An apt question." A voice sounded from directly behind them, and Yusuke and the group of demons or near demons jumped with surprise and spun to face the intrusion, with greater or lesser grace depending on the individual demon involved, "Please, I'm not going to hurt you."

Trained by experience or inclination to expect the worst, the group was surprised yet again by the appearance of their mysterious voice. A lone man stood there, his JSDF uniform dark with the night sky, and his face devoid of expression. He stood some distance back, his hands out at his sides, his hip holster empty.

"Sid, that you?" Amakaze asked the figure quietly, stepping forward to be at the lead of the group, "Look, this is going to get dangerous for everybody, why don't you go home before-."

"Don't waste your time, Ama..." Sid replied, his voice biting off every word, "Or should I say Amakaze Hakudou. One of Koenma's dogs...anyway, Sid isn't here right now. They were getting a little annoying to direct all the time, so I decided to step in."

"Step in..." Kurama's face clouded with confusion, and then cleared into horror, "Matthews?!"

"I ought to have known you would get it." Sid's face did not change as the voice merged from his lips, "Of all of them, your intellect comes the closest to sentience...thought not actually achieving it, of course."

"What the hell's the point of this, you freak?" Yusuke, as ever, cut through the customary trading of light insults and delved straight into the angrier versions.

"You disappoint me, my dear boy." Sid sighed to himself, "But I'll humor you. I'd like for Yusuke and his DIRECT band of misfits to come fight me personally, as they're no doubt here to do. By that, I mean Yusuke, Suzaku, Hiei, Kurama, Amakaze, Zandock, and Caspar, yes I do know your names, dear boys, to come inside. I must respectfully ask the others to remain out here."

"What, have you gone bloody crazy?" Chu's voice cracked through the night like a whip, "You want us to send Urameshi in there and the rest of us just stand here like nothings going on? Why-."

"No, Of course not." Matthews voice, through Sid, cut through the noise and demanded silence, "Now, I know it's hard, but try to think a bit while I explain. That group will go inside, and my own personal army will not interfere with them. Both my guard and your group shall remain outdoors and out of the way, though, of course..." A slight smile tugged at the edges of the expressionless face, "...If one of those groups wanted to help those inside, they would first have to deal with the other group outside... understand?"

"You're willing to take on nearly half of us at once, by yourself...?" Kurama's voice was thoughtful as he answered, "Is that right?"

"Of course."

Yusuke looked around, judging the faces of those gathered, before making it official, "Alright then...let's do this."

It took a few minutes for the small group to walk between the rows of soldiers at attention, mostly because they were worried about a betrayal. But no attack came, and they soon disappeared inside the building.

The night winds kicked up, swirling the garments on the remaining demons. Chu, Touya, Suzuka, Jin, Rinku, and Shishi Wakamaru faced off against the endlessly precise legions of human soldiers. Chu smiled, deftly pulled a large bottle from his belt bag, and waved it in the air,

"Let's get it on!"

---

"Remember, stay out of way and let us take him." Amakaze told Yusuke firmly, "We can manage, and if we can't, you'd stand a better chance if you watch the way he fights then just diving in with both fists going. Alright?"

"I don't like it..." Yusuke admitted, "But if that's the way you want to play it, that's how we'll do it."

"You think he's going to kill you...don't you, Ama?"

The entire processional ground to a halt. Kurama, having been the one to speak, was the first to stop. Amakaze did not turn to look at the red-haired questioner, but spoke over his shoulder,

"What makes you say that?"

"The way you act." Kurama said shortly, "The way Koenma looked at you, and promised you 'only one more time'. The way you and your brothers stick close together and watch us as if waiting for us to notice some secret. The way you have volunteered to go first against an unknown enemy, holding to that plan even after seeing what he did to the humans outside. You can claim 'experience' or 'reliability' all you want, but the truth is, you know Yusuke has the best chance...and you're going to goad Matthews into revealing his powers so that he has a chance, aren't you?"

The silent moment stretched on into a minute without anyone moving. Amakaze slowly sighed, his shoulders rising and falling with the length of the expression.

"Kurama..." Amakaze said slowly, his eyes closed, "You....are too clever by half." With a single motion, the blonde strode forward and kicked at the large metal double door at the end of the hall which obligingly opened. The room was large, much larger then any of the offices or other research centers along the way, and it quickly became clear as to the reason. The entire rear of the room was dominated by a huge machine, it's base blinking with dials and levers, and a large arm bent down toward the floor. The end of that arm tapered into a giant syringe, with at least half a dozen small needles formed in a circle around it. At the sight, both Hiei and Kurama gasped and went rigid.

"So that's The Machine..." Yusuke gazed up at the oddly intimidating piece of machinery, "Must have cost a little more then my X-Box...Can it play DVDs?"

No one laughed, and Yusuke nearly flinched as a soft sound echoed briefly in the room. The sounds repeated itself once, and then again, and Matthews stepped from under the shadow of the Machine, his hands clapping softly in the silent air, "Your humor does your spirit credit, Yusuke...But have a care...this is the single most important piece of equipment on the face of the earth, after all, it has created a God."

"A god?" Caspar glanced over to the left at his brothers, a slight smile tugging at the very edge of his mouth as he stepped carefully to the right, "A god did you say?"

"Didn't you know, Matthews?" Zandock asked, his gaze drifting to the right as he drifted to the left, "I would think you would have..."

"Did I hear what?" Matthews asked, his pristine suit shifting as he watched the two hackers move to the sides, "What are you babbling about?"

"I thought you knew..." Amakaze turned sideways, his mouth twitching into a slight smirk, "...God is dead!"

The wind gusted sideways as Amakaze's feet left the ground, the spirit detective spun in the air with bewildering speed, lashing out with a kick before Yusuke could even register the movement. Matthews, however, had already raised an arm to block before the kick connected, but the force of the blow still knocked the executive off balance. Caspar's staff whistled through the air as Matthews ducked under it and jerked his head to the left, barely managing to move it from the path of Zandock's fist.

"A little early to give it your all, isn't it Ama?" Matthews remarked calmly, but there was a hint of strain in his voice as he sidestepped another of Zandock's attack and used the spin to kick back at the floating Amakaze, "You're usually a little more reserved then this."

"No point wasting time." Amakaze spun through the wind with ease, Matthew's foot passing through the air where he wasn't anymore, "But we aren't quite giving it our all yet..."

"Oh?" Caspar, Zandock, and Matthews were getting hard to distinguish in the rush of motions and counterstrikes flying in the air, "You've more to show me?"

"Of course!" Amakaze's voice cut through the wind and Matthews suddenly overextended as Caspar and Zandock vanished. Amakaze's eyes blazed with white energy as he gathered the power of his brothers, much much quicker then they had done against Blaze, "This one's called, 'Star Point Barrage.', a little trick I picked up from my father!"

Amakaze's hands cupped the air in front of him, spiritual energy springing to life between his fingers as he tightened his fingers around the air. Abruptly, he flung the ball into the air where it rooted above Matthews even as he craned his neck to see it. The ball split into a hundred little lights that scattered around the room, floating brightly in place like miniature stars in sky. Amakaze leaned back, cracked his neck, and pointed.

The stars roared with fury, each point of light streaking like a laser toward Matthews, a hundred separate lines of energy burning through the air and impacting with a dazzling display of crackling electricity and blue-white light. As the impact died away, the smoke parted, and Matthews clapped his hands with delight,

"Oh, a light show." The blue-eyed man commented, "How thoughtful of you." The black suit blurred into a streak of black as the official rushed forward, swinging his fist out and connecting with nothing as Amakaze faded from view.

"We're not done yet." Matthews spun, and Zandock smiled with suppressed anticipation, his eyes unearthly glowing with golden light, "We all get a turn...and mine's called Gaia's Revenge!" The ground crack ominously as Zandock shifted position, his golden aura spreading until the entire room was bathed in a thick gold coat of light.

"I told you already, I've grown tired of light shows." Matthews sighed, bending down and rapidly moving forward to the tanned-hacker. As he reared up to strike, the metal ground at Zandock's feet split, and out roared a blinding spray of brown earth. Matthews took a step back from the display as the bits of rock and ground gathered on the ceiling. Zandock, grinning with delight, waved his hands once at the mound, and it abruptly changed. The edges became hard and the color uniform, and the suddenly created boulder let gravity catch up with it and came down onto Matthews, sending up a cloud of dust as the floor bent with the weight.

"Impressive, if not subtle." Matthews reclined atop the cracked boulder as if nothing was particular interesting or frightening to him. Even as Zandock looked up, Matthews had jumped down and was rushing toward him again. However, the first punch of the charge passed against through an insubstantial ghost.

"You're still trying to jump the gun." Caspar's glowing blue eyes watched the boulder as the energy ran out of it and it crumbled into nothing more then sand, "You still need to experience my attempt. Frozen Crypt."

Caspar didn't move, but a loud metallic wrenching caught the audience's attention as one of the energy chemical sinks against the right hand wall blew off in a stream of water, sending the porcelain sink flying to smash into a table across the room. The sink next to it popped off as well, and the next, moving down the line until all the sinks were removed, and water began lapping at the feet of The Machine.

"The element is gathered, all is in place." Caspar's eyelids closed, but they only dimmed the light from his eyes, not put it out entirely, "It is time for the dance." The smooth surface of the growing puddle pulsed once, as if a rock has skipped across the surface, and then again.

"It'll take more then a puddle, my friend. Why don't you get on with it?" Matthews voice hovered on the edge of insult before dipping into it entirely, "I'm afraid I've never cared much for being wet."

"How unfortunate for you." Caspar replied, spreading his arms, "But as you wish, so shall it be." In a blaze of blue light, Caspar's staff appeared in his hands, and he pointed it at Matthews. Even as a smirk appears on Matthews' face, the entire floor of water surged upward, converging on that one point with chaotic foams of water. Matthews disappeared into the waves of water, as the edges of the puddle contracted inward, until it was less then ten feet across. Caspar raised his hand slowly, and snapped his fingers.

The water froze abruptly, every wave in the process of crashing down, every scattered drop of water along the wall, and every swirl under the surface became a cold monument in the center of the room. Caspar raised the staff over his head calmly, and brought it down with utter certainty on the edge of the frozen ice.

The icy statue shattered into a million pieces, the shards scattering over the floor and crunching under foot as several of those present shifted to shield themselves from the falling debris. The smaller bits of ice melted quickly, while the larger chunks remained wet blocks lying scattered around here or there.

"You shouldn't have underestimated us, Matthews." Caspar said softly to the largest mound of ice, "It never helps."

"Then why are you doing it to me?" Matthews appeared less then a foot from Caspar's elbow, smirking and undamaged, "Sorry, friend, but this suit is dry clean only..." The JSDF official rotated back and swung his foot forward, only to pass through the ghostly image of Caspar as it faded, "Not this time!" Matthews continued to spin, his hands snapping out even as Amakaze appeared before him, his edges becoming solid even as Caspar faded out. Matthews punch caught the spirit detective dead center, and the sound of breaking bone echoed in the room as the air left Amakaze in a scream as he flew backward. The young hacker bounced on the ground, and as he did so, both of his brothers bounced with him, the merged lines separating as all three flew backward. Caspar and Zandock skidded to a halt near Hiei and Kurama, but Amakaze rolled once before coming to an abrupt stop against the wall.

"Amakaze!" Yusuke rushed forward, pulling the young spirit detective and helped him up, blood leaking for the edge of the blondes mouth as he held his ribs painfully,

"Yusuke?"

"Yeah...?"

"I think we'll need your help after all..."


	35. Chapter 28: Cue the Boss Theme

**Chapter 28: Cue the Boss Theme**

"Too Slow, I'm afraid." The soldier heard the voice, and began to reverse his turn, but Shishi was already beginning his slash. Three quick strokes later, and one more soldier joined the pile of his fellows downed or dead. Either one tended to be permanent; demons fight for keeps after all.

"Something is wrong here." Touya shook his head slightly, as if trying to clear it from some insistent voice. Gently, he reached out and touched the chest of a charging soldier, and the man turned absolutely white, his breathing coming out in a cloud of steam as he fell to the floor, teeth chattering uncontrollably, "If Matthews really is trying to keep us away from Yusuke and the others, what's the point of this cannon fodder?"

"It's a classic tactic." Suzuka had drifted into the area even as Touya was talking. His hand snapped forward, and a pair of metal cylinders emerged from his finger tips and latched onto a pair of featureless soldiers. Both soldiers dropped their guns as tendrils of electricity played over their bodies, dropping them to the ground where they occasionally twitched, "It's called Divide and Conquer. As weak as these humans are, they provide enough of an obstacle to prevent us from easily coming to Urameshi's aid, should he require it."

"Some blokes just don't have any sense of what's right anymore...Throwing away his men just to slow us down." Chu sighed, throwing back his head and downing half a bottle of some nameless brown liquid from a thick container. Heedless of the bullets that flashed all around him, he wiped the drink off his mouth and heaved the bottle toward the knot of soldiers beginning to fire organized, if inaccurate, volleys toward the semi-group of demons. The bottle broke on impact, spilling the contents over the ground.

The explosion ripped apart the asphalt, and sent a full squad of soldiers flying through the air until they skidded on the blackened cement. None of them looked inclined to move, or indeed able to do so.

"What on earth do you drink?" Touya demanded, looking with some trepidation at the smoking crater. Chu shrugged for a moment, and was about to respond when the air cracked sharply overhead. A shining blue line passed through the air where Chu had been standing, and knocked a car-sized hole directly into the asphalt. The demons jumped visibly, and jerked their heads where the shot had come from, but the rooftops in that direction were empty.

"That one could be dangerous, the sniper I believe." Suzuka kept moving, keeping his gaze tracking over the building rooftops as he did so.

"I'll take care of him." Shishi promised over his shoulder, blurring as he rushed off to the north, "Take care of the playthings while I'm gone."

"As ever." Touya nodded, turning back to the neglected melee, icy wind gathering around him,

"Hurry Back."

* * *

Matthews twisted to the left around the snapping rose-whip, ducked under the katana sword, reached out with one hand to knock away the Storm of Torment and lashed out with the other, connecting solidly with the side of Yusuke's head and sending the youth skidding along the metal ground into the wall. A quick back flip put him out of the range of the remaining fighters, and allowed both sides to catch their breath.

"Nice Right..." Yusuke muttered, pulling himself to his feet for at least the third time. Against various walls and tables, three Suzakus, Zandock, and Casper were all struggling to their feet as well, "We could have used you on our school boxing team."

"Still making jokes? I must say I'm impressed." Matthews bobbed on his feet, his face sweaty but otherwise untouched, "Your teamwork is better then I would have been inclined to give it credit before. If you work on it a little, you might actually hit me."

"Let me...help.." Amakaze used the wall to hold himself up, the other busy clutching at his stomach, "We can..beat him..."

"You've got a couple of broken ribs, Ama." Zandock wiped blood of the side his lip, glancing at his brother, "You stay where you are, or I will knock you out."

"You can try again if you'd like, as, even without Ama, there are twelve of you." His glance shifted to the seven Suzakus standing close together in one corner, "Well, six minds and twelve bodies. Still, one of you ought to be able to touch me."

"We'll do more then just touch you..." Hiei rolled his shoulders casually, cracking his neck, and abruptly rushed the man with the expensive suit. Even without the slightest hint of warning, Matthews had the time to raise his arm to block the sword stroke. Tiny fragments of shining metal shown briefly in the florescent lighting of the research center. Hiei, unperturbed, flinched only slightly as the hilt of his sword exploded with green-fire focused into the rough image of a blade. He reversed his momentum and swung the now blazing sword the other way, nearly catching Matthew's across the stomach as the other barely evaded.

"I know all about your little Sword of the Darkness Flame, Hiei, we were at the tournament remember?" Even as he spoke, his hands flashed out to push aside another rose-whip strike toward a pair of Suzaku's, forcing them to shy off and allowing him to spin on his heel and connecting with Hiei using a kick that sent the short Yokai spinning of into another wall, "I know about all your moves!"

"Then you'll know we tend to kill people when they piss us off!" Yusuke's voice reverberated off the wall just slightly before he himself did, his headlong rush blocked with a quick throw to the left by Matthews. The impeccably dressed soldier was once again weaving back and forth, his body blurring with an unimaginable speed as he blunted the attack of so many individuals all at once. Yusuke picked himself up, preparing to launch himself into the fray when he realized something.

Matthews was falling behind, in fact, he was losing a few precious seconds with every block that he managed. Soon, one of the hits would get in, if they could just keep it up. If they COULD keep up. Yusuke's muscles bunched as he pushed himself forward.

They might not be able to keep it up, but Yusuke wasn't going to be the first one to quit fighting!

* * *

Rinku's Yo-Yo snaked around the man's leg, pulling taut around the limb like a tightly stretched wire. The kid-like Yokai pulled back sharply, and the constricting wire flipped the man onto his backside, along with the other nine soldiers Rinku had entangled. Quickly, he thrust out his hands and ten Yo-Yo plowed into ten rifles with shattering force,

"Sheesh, it's like they want to lose or something.." The boy muttered, bouncing on the tops of his heels and effortlessly flipping out of the way of the return fire, "I've had harder workouts sleeping..."

"These ain't the ones we be needing to worry about, now Lad." Jin could speak fairly good Japanese until he got excited, as his oddly developed accent got in the way. The wind-controlling demon flew in low, bringing himself to a halt near where Rinku and Touya were carving their way through the soldier, Jim himself hovering only a foot above the ground, "The thing you'll need to be watching in when we finally get in to the big guy, I can feel em inside, they're all like 'woosh and wee' and he's still dodgin' them without much trying, and-."

"Look Out, Jin!"

It all happened so quickly, Rinku was forced to reconstruct the event from his memory. Jin was still talking as Touya glanced over his shoulder and froze, his face going from impassive to horrified in mere moments. The blue haired demon had shouted a warning, moving immediately to Jin with his arms outstretched, pushing the floating Yokai out of the path of danger and placing himself squarely into it.

The bullet left the barrel of the rifle already full of spirit energy. It burned blue as it screamed through the air; crossing the distance quicker then any bullet ought to. It streaked right to the spot where Jin had been, impacted and shattered Touya's hastily constructed shield, and slammed into the demon's chest.

Touya flinched only momentarily, and glanced down at himself. His pale skin turned even paler as bright red stained his clothes, pouring out from the wound on his chest and the exit wound on his bag. Quickly, he found his knees buckling, and his own weight drive him to the ground, but he felt no impact in the fog that had suddenly come over his mind. The world jerked in an out of focus, as if it were film being constantly sped up or slowed down. With a blur of motion, Jin appeared at his side, unusually clear even in the blurriness.

"Touya? Touya!" The red-haired demon was slapping the others face lightly with one hand until the others eyes opened fully again, "Don't you go leaving again on me, that wouldn't be right...we stick together you and I and we always have, right? It just wouldn't be right..I mean.." Tears were forming in his eyes as he put his hand over the pulsing wound, trying without success to slow the tide, "...Please...Touya...don't.."

"Shh..." The sound came from Touya with difficulty as he slowly raised a hand over his lover's lip. His face tightened with concentration and he struggled to speak, "I've...no...regrets.." For a brief moment, his eyes opened wider as the air escaped his lungs with a wordless exhalation. His hand drop to his side, and his head lower back onto the gravel after. Frost gathered over his pale skin, a layer of ice spreading over his body until he was left glistening in the moonlight.

"Touya....Touya...!" Jin bent over the Yokai, hugging his unresponsive and frozen body to himself, "No..please...Touya...Don't..." Gunfire sent sparks off the gravel, and buzzed spitefully through the air as the fight continued all around them, but it was all a million miles and a few lifetimes away. Dimly, Jin could feel Chu and Rinku keep an eye on him as they fought, prepared to interfere if the sniper fired again. A part of Jin was grateful, while another part wished the sniper would shoot again, so that he could go where he really belonged.

Slowly, almost so slowly that he didn't notice it, the sorrow began to disappear. In its place emerged a rage, a rage that burned within him like a living fire. It wanted, no- Demanded, the blood of the ones who had allowed this to happen. Without consciously realizing it, he found himself on his feet, his muscles bunched as he stared at what remained of the soldier. To a man, they flinched away from the darkness they saw there. Perhaps Matthews control was slackening, or perhaps he simply couldn't repress the instinctive response to the beast they saw in Jin's eyes. But Matthews had enough control left to keep them from running. Jin didn't want them to run. Wind began to swirl around him, his feet leaving the ground with unbearable slowness as he watched them with predatory eyes.

With a scream of rage and betrayal, he charged.

* * *

Matthews' left hand snapping out, catching Kurama in the stomach even as the Kitsune tried to throw himself back out of the way, but the soldier did not have any time to see the results of his hit. His jerked his head back, letting Caspar's staff whistle by his ear, deftly sidestepped Hiei's Katana, and managed to get another snap-kick off at the short demon as Suzaku stepped in with a barrage of punches.

"There's not enough of you to wear me down!" Matthews was laughing now, grabbing Suzaku's arm and flinging the humanized Saint Beast into two of his carbon copies, sending all three onto the floor, "You can just keep getting up if you'd like, you're never going to be able to-."

"Hey Matthews! Shut your Mouth!" Amakaze's voice cut through the din, and Matthews abruptly threw himself backward, landing off balance as the former spirit detective's spirit gun blazed through the space where he had been. His hands cart wheeled a moment as he regained his poise from the unexpected attack, and Yusuke charged in for his one opportunity. Matthews almost negligently pulled his arm forward to meet the attack, and jerked abruptly as his found his arms restrained, with Kurama on his left and Zandock on his right. It took only a moment and a minor application of strength to break those holds, but it was a moment that Matthews did not have.

Genkai's Spirit Wave was as flexible a technique as it was powerful. In the hands of a skilled warrior, it could be finessed in a weapon of terrifying precision, so much so that it could even be used as an extraordinarily precise healing technique. Genkai's mastery of the spirit energies involved elevated it to a technique of amazing reputation among both demons and other spiritual denizens.

Yusuke didn't know a lot about that, nor could he truly bring out the full potential of the Wave. But he could still hit things really really hard with it. The air rushed out of Matthews as the punch lifted the other off his feet, folding himself of the spirit detective's fist. Spirit energy blazed around the two as their auras fought it out on the spiritual plane. Yusuke's familiar grin sprang to life on his face as the last of the Spirit Wave pummeled his tormentor and, still holding the man aloft with his right hand, he gathered more energy into his left.

"Now try my Shotgun!" Yusuke's fist exploded with light at point blank range, each of the tiny shells of spirit energy traveling only inches before slamming into Matthews' chest. The force of the detonation sent Matthews flying backward, trailing smoke as he skidded along the flooring and came to an abrupt stop against the wall with a dull thud.

Yusuke panted with exertion, the rest of the group slowly rising to their feet, some a bit woozily, as they took a moment to recover. Several were nursing light wounds as they stood, watching as Matthews came to a stop against a, now indented, wall.

"I...I hit him."

"Yes, Yes you did." Matthews shook his head for a moment, as though trying to his ringing ears. Slowly, his body rose off the ground, rising with chilling slowness until he was once against standing straight. Briefly, he cracked his neck and spat to the side, a thin trickle of blood sliding down the wall as he wiped at a split lip, "I let you have your fun. Now we play things my way."

There was a flash of moment, a suggestion of a blue for a brief movement, and Yusuke suddenly found himself nose-to-nose with the homicidal soldier. Before he could react at all, Matthews reached out and, almost gently, grabbed Yusuke's left arm, raised it up, and bent it ninety degrees at the forearm with an audible snap of broken bone.

Yusuke screamed as Matthews let him go, falling to his knees and holding onto his broken arm with his other one. Matthews allowed himself a tight smile as he began to move again, weaving effortlessly through the crowd of slow moving fighters before they could even begin to react. Deftly, he plucked what remained of Hiei's sword, hardly more then a hilt and a few spare inches of sharpened steel, reversed it, and brought it down against the short Yokai's gut. Hiei gasped for a moment, his hands grasping at his stomach as the unexpected pain washed over him. Blood ran down the hilt and over his fingers as he sank to his knees.

"Oh I do like this part." Matthews chuckles softly to himself, lashing out with a kick that sent Hiei bouncing off the ground into a wall, "Now you finally realize how weak and powerless you are, and-."

"You Bastard!" Kurama's feet flexed as he threw himself into the air, calling his energy around him. His hair lengthened abruptly, and faded to grey as his eyes began to sparkle with a predatory gaze. Within a few moments Kurama had completed the transformation into his legendary true form: Yoko. A rose exploded in his hands, its long vine extending and screaming toward Matthews, demanding blood. The thorns of the vine glistened coldly as it extended, blurring through the air like a missile.

And Matthews caught it.

For a moment, the two being just stared at each other, the vine still thrashing madly in the soldiers hands even as he held firm. When Matthews spoke his voice was still calm, or even amused.

"You forget, dear boy, that you've been in my machine." He said slowly, his eyes glowing unnaturally in the dim light of smashed fluorescents, "I can do what you do, but I'm infinitely stronger!" The vine twitched in Matthews' hand and turned the deep black of charred earth before coiling, wrapping around Yoko's body and yanking him down to the ground.

Yoko struggled, growling as he pulled against the bonds of his own rose that now held him captive. Matthews shook his head, like a kindly teacher with a particularly slow student, and studied the portion of the vine still in his hand. With an audible groan, the inch long thorn sprang to nearly a full six inches of unbelievable sharp plant. Yoko's yellow eyes met Matthews' glowing blue orbs and, with a flash of fear, realized what the man's intent was.

Yoko screamed as every thorn across the whip extending, biting deeply into his flesh everywhere he was bound. Yoko's scream blended with Matthews laughter as the second ticked by, until they both ran out of air. Yoko thrashed on the ground briefly as Matthews wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling.

"Well, your friends outside are doing well. I'd better put a stop that..." Matthews said breathlessly, and snapped his fingers. Green light radiated out from the snap like ripples on a pond, passing over the fighters in the room without effect and flowing out the room, "Thanks to Blaze, That should keep them busy."

"Who's next?"

* * *

The tornado fist impacted solidly against the man's midsection, and the swirling wind basically blew the man apart. Red mist gathered into the swirling stream and scattered in all direction as what was left of the man folded onto the cement and lay still. Jin panted, wiping blood out of his eyes as he stood. That was the last soldier, and his blood was splattered with the remains of his vengeance.

"Jin..." The soft voice made him jump, and he jerked around, his hands coming around as he sought for another target, another thing to kill. Chu, the owner of the voice, raised a hand to caution him, "I know you're hopping mad, but this ain't the way to fix it, you know that."

"Shut up, Biggie! You've no idea what the way is!" Jin snapped at him, his eyes searching the piles of broken or torn bodies, "Where've the rest of em got off to, I'm not letting 'em get away from me now."

"You've killed them all, Jin, none of the poor blighters are left.."

"No! There's got to be more!" Jin growled, his eyes still searching the mounds, "Maybe one of em is just pretending, I can just-."

"Jin! Cut it out!" Chu grabbed the other demon by the shoulders, shaking him for a moment. Jin was about to snap off another angry comment, when Rinku's voice cut into the conversation.

"What the hell's that?" Both demons turned to look as a green wave expanding from the main building on the base. It washed over the field, turning everything green momentarily before fading. As it reached the gates, it became wider and more diffuse, eventually fading entirely. Jin blinked as he turned, glancing over at Chu, Rinku, and Suzuka as the later rejoined them.

"Wasn't that spirit energy?"

"Felt like it, right enough." Chu mumbled, scratching his chin, "Don't know what it was supposed to do though.."

"I don't feel any different." Jin murmured, "How odd that-." The red-haired Yokai flinched as the blood on his face separated, lifting off his skin and floating for a moment in mid-air, "What the devil?"

The blood separated from Jin in a rush, rising in the air and abruptly arcing down the corpse on the ground. The corpse that was beginning to twitch little bits of skin and bone reforming back in their proper place.

They're pulling themselves back together!"

The four Yokai stood silently as the entire army began to rise again...

* * *

The sky dimmed and brightened with the other flicker of non-motion as God concentrated and willed himself to be elsewhere. He quickly gathered a new grip on his rifle as his body materialized on the rooftop of another building and crouched down beside the edge of the flooring. These demons had been lucky enough to consistently manage to block a great deal of his shots, though he had managed to take down one. God loved rooftops, and because of this he took great care to stay unpredictable as he bounced from position to position.

He eased the rifle into position, flipping the cap on the scope open at the last moment to avoid reflecting light and lay still as he focused on his targets. His blood quickened within him as he realized he had stumbled across the perfect shot. All four were gathered closely together, facing the opposite direction, and, best of all, standing still, letting him pick and choose. After a moment's thought, he settled his cross-hair over the red-haired one, who had proven to be the most dangerous, and certainly the most likely to hunt him down.

"I got you now, friend, I got you..." He whispered to himself, tightening his finger across the trigger and preparing for the moment, "No time for prayer now, I-." God's voice cut off as he felt something cold and sharp pressed into his back gently.

"Drop the gun." Shishi Wakamaru was half-kneeling, one hand grasping tightly to his sword, the other hand flat against the bottom of the hilt, ready to drive the blade forward at a moment's notice, "You've lost." God glances over his shoulder, his steady arms holding the gun immobile as he searched the demon's eyes for signs that he was bluffing. He was not.

"How did you know where I'd be?" He asked, his voice almost plaintive, but he did not drop the weapon, "I was jumping randomly."

"No, actually, you were trying to jump randomly. What you did was avoid repeating yourself, which left you fewer and fewer areas to jump to each time." Shishi's voice was almost conversational, but the sword jabbed into God's back again, "Now drop the gun."

"Sorry. I'm a soldier."

Jin felt the bullet impact against him, its spirit energy burning through his body like a searing iron pressed against the wound. The bullet impacted just under his right shoulder and knocked him forward, dumping him into the ground. He could dimly here the shock and outraged voices around him, but he not longer cared to listen. He stretched his hands forward, grasped onto Touya's frozen fingers, and lay still. Before he lost consciousness, all he felt was cold.

God felt the sword push into him, its spirit energy burning through him like a searing iron pressed against the wound. The blade pushed in just under his right shoulder, and pushed him forward, dumping him out of the edge of the roof. He could hear the wind whistling around his ears as he spun slowly in the air, but he did not care to listen. His hand stretched up to the night sky as he fell, as if to pluck the stars from the heavens. Before he lost consciousness, all he felt was cold.

Shishi heard the crash, and leaned over the edge of the building looking down at the rear of the building facing the Base. A rifle, with a hand loosely clutched around the grip, still smoked from the dumpster where it emerged from. A thin stream of blue-ish energy rose slowly from the dumpster and faded into the air. Shishi gravely wiped the blood of his sword, and sheathed the weapon quickly.

"Good Riddance."

* * *

Suzaku's last swing was disorientated, and went no where near the direction of Matthews. The soldier effortless stepped in, and folded the former Saint Beast of his arm with a devastating stomach punch that the sent the other flying onto the ground. The demon landed against another defeated fighter, one that wore his face. None of the Suzakus looked as though they wished to continue the fight.

"Well, that was fun." Matthews carefully readjusted his hair, which was beginning to stand out after the jolts of electricity, "Did I miss anyone?" His gaze swept the room from left to right, taking in the Suzaku pile, the huddled, angry form of Yusuke, the spot where Hiei was still struggling to rise, having pulled the sword from his belly with difficulty, the grounded Yoko still bound with his own plants, and the two fallen former spirit detective, "Anyone?"

"M-Matthews." Amakaze was leaning against the wall, supporting himself with one hand as his other still clutched at his ribs. Matthews noticed the sound and turned, smiling broadly as if someone had informed him that he had won the lottery.

"Ah, Ama! I might have known you would not have given up yet." Matthews strode to the youth with a bright smile, "Though I wouldn't envy your case. Those bottom ribs seem to be broken."

"A S-spirit detective...F-fulfills his duties..." Amakaze managed, clearly having some difficulty drawing air as he took a step forward, his hand still against the wall, "I'll S-stop you..."

"No, no you won't actually." Matthews sighed, casually grabbing the Hakudou brother by the back of the shirt and heaving him across the room with the sound of tearing cloth. Amakaze's bare back hit the metal and jolted his ribs, drawing a scream of pain. Matthews walked after him and paused, noticing a deep scar running over the spirit detectives chest from right hip to left shoulder, "Oh, now what's this? Who gave you that scar?"

"G-Go..to H-hell."

"That wasn't very nice." Matthews sighed again, shaking his head like a disappoint parent as he pulled Amakaze back onto his feet, grabbed his arm, and grimly twisted it over his back,

"Ah! Ah! Shinobu Sensui!"

"There, that wasn't so hard was it?" Matthews release the other and Amakaze dropped to the ground as though he were boneless. Grimly, the soldier turned back to the current Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi, "Now then, Yusuke, is that what you want to be? Scarred by near-misses and risky victories, til at least you come up against someone who simply kills you, probably before you even hit thirty? That's what the life of a Spirit Detective is, you know. Why not join me instead, and live as a king?"

"I think my friend there summed it up.." Yusuke's voice was steady as he cradled his broken arm, "Go to hell, Matthews."

"Yusuke, Yusuke, Yusuke.." Matthews sighed, putting a hand over his eyes, "You and Blaze were so much alike. So many baseless convictions of right and wrong that you couldn't see the opportunity before you. And do you know where Vincent is? I killed him, much like I'm going to kill anyone who doesn't join me, and I stole his powers so tell me, what was the point of his heroics?"

"Y-You..Stole Blaze's powers?" Amakaze was back on his feet, and Matthews shot him a brief irritated glance.

"Yes, yes, I did. Not get back on the ground, you're not extended this offer."

"T-That's not P-possible.." Amakaze's breath was becoming ragged quickly, "T-The human body C-can't hold t-that much energy and S-still have y-yours too."

"Very good, class!" Matthews muttered sarcastically, "You're almost there. The human body can't sustain the energy I'm using so, therefore..."

"You're a demon." It was Yusuke who spoke, his voice echoing around the empty chamber and the humming machinery. Matthews wheeled about, smiling broadly,

"Very good, Yusuke! Yes, I am a demon." He said simply, "And I now have access to nearly unlimited human energy, and a host of demonic techniques to use them on. I'm faster, stronger, and more resilient then any demon on this said of the Barrier, and I'll be literally unstoppable. Governments will crumble at my presence, and I'll become stronger and stronger as time goes by, until the world, at last, bows to my throne. In other words: Muahahahahaha!" Matthews threw his head back with a deep belly laugh that seemed to shake the room. Afterwards, he managed to look sheepish, "Too Much, maybe? It seemed like the thing to end that with?"

"M-Matthews...if I go down..I'm going to..I'm going to.." Yusuke blinked, glancing at Amakaze as the others voice deepened from a tenor into a bass range. His voice became a kind of growl as his nails lengthened into claws, white hair spreading over his arms as his smile revealed terribly sharp fangs.

"No Ama, don't!" It was never entirely clearly which of the brothers said it, but the heartfelt sentiment was certainly there. Matthews gestured to his left and both Caspar and Zandock his the wall with a sharp thud. After that, the soldier turned to face Amakaze as the other changed, his face taking on a expression that bordered on ecstatic.

"All right, Ama, show me what you've got..."

Amakaze continued to change, giving himself up willingly as his ears expanded, becoming pointed as his blonde hair lengthened. His eyes opened wide as the pupils came together, drawing into a single slit like a cat's eye, though a white light from within his eyes soon obscured the pupils and iris. His claws glinted in the dim light as he stood, unhindered by the problems that stopped his more human side.

"Ama..." Zandock's voice was low as he struggled to rise, "Koenma will..kill you..."

"Matthews...If I go down..." Amakaze managed between laughter. Not his normal laugh of good humor but a lower, deeper, and even more evil laugh, "If I go down I'm taking you with me!"

To be continued...


	36. Chapter 29: Demonic Clash

**Chapter 29: Demonic Clash**

They piled on to Chu, hanging off his limbs and dragging his body down by sheer weight. Soldier after soldier joined the dog pile, forcing the Yokai down toward the ground. Suzuka and Shishi were busy on the other side of the melee, and Rinku simply could not carve through the soldiers fast enough to come to Chu's aid as the soldier bore him down.

"Get...off...me!" Chu fingers curved around, forming a circle between his palms that soon blazed with spirit energy. The light shown only dimly, escaping sporadically between the limbs of the soldiers who still fought desperately to bring him down. Those immediately next to Chu's forming attack flinched back from the heat, but just holding it made no impression on his situation. With resignation, Chu almost gently dropped the ball of energy, letting it fall to the dirt.

The energy ball exploded on contact, most of its force contained by the ground and sent directly upward into Chu and the Soldiers. Chu, an experienced fighter, could use the preparation time and create a shield that would mostly protect him from the assault. The soldiers, far less experienced with energy even if they possessed such powers, were forced to take the brunt of the attack.

As the smoke cleared, Chu found himself smoldering, but intact, which was a good deal better then the situation the soldiers found themselves in, largely mixed in with each other over a good spread of land.

"Damn soldier boys, made me get a piece of myself just to get em off." He grunted under his breath, brushing a smoldering ash off his bare upper arm.

"Chu!" Shishi called out, the last of his section of soldiers falling to his blade in quick succession. In fact, there seemed to be very few soldiers that continued to move as the four demons met up in the center, "I think we've pretty much got this group dealt with now."

"Hey...you guys feel that?" Rinku's young voice piped in as the child-like demon panted to catch his breath, "Something is going on inside.."

"Feels something like the energy of the old spirit detectives, except-." Suzuka's sense finally caught the last elusive piece, "Wait, isn't that...demon energy? I didn't know-."

"Hey, heads up!"

The green wave spread out from the base again, enveloping the battlefield with a gentle green glow for a few seconds. Even as it did so, the wounded soldiers begin to walk straight, and even the nearly-liquefied remains began to reform into the original living and breathing human soldiers. Within less then a minute, the entire army was back on its feet.

"Well, it looks like that's Urameshi's problem." Chu sighed, rolling his shoulders slowly, "Let's take care of ours, shall we?"

---

"Ama...Don't do it!" Zandock was back on his feet, if a little woozy from the short trip into the wall, his right hand extended toward his brother, "You can't control it at those levels, none of us can! Let it go before it's too late!" Matthews sighed as he glanced in Zandock's direction, but he said nothing. Either because he didn't want the fun to end that quickly, or because he knew it was already too late.

"Better to win committing a sin then losing as a Saint, brother." Amakaze's golden eyes squinted slightly, as if over come with sudden pain. His hair was now longer, extending down his shoulder blades as the fur continued to spread over his arms and bared chest revealed by the tear down the front of his shirt, leaving the surprisingly thick cloth to hang off his body in shreds. His teeth glistened sharp and unnatural in the fading light, "You'll know what...you'll need to do after..Zan.."

"Ama, don't!" Caspar's voice echoed off the wall, and for a long moment, nothing happened. Then Amakaze threw his head back and screamed, his pleasant baritone dropping into a horrible liquidly base rumble. The lithe body curled up slightly as the claws on his hands became more predominant, and the white light from his eyes faded, leaving glittering yellow cat-eyes in this place. The air crackled as the hunched form slowly straightened, a giggle wracking the body like a fit until it grew into full throated laughter that reverberated insanely from the walls.

"Are you done yet, Ama?" Matthews drawled, rolling his eyes, "I'm getting a little tired of all the suspense. This isn't a soap opera, and we don't need to spend an hour telling each other not to-." Matthews voice cut off abruptly, his mocking tone replaced by a heavy sounded thud. Amakaze had blurred forward and landed a hard right on Matthews face before Yusuke had even registered the movement, and the soldier bounced once off the hard metal floor before flipping back onto his feet.

The two stared at each other, the crouched form of Amakaze barely recognizable through his changed appearance, and the tall, straight form of Matthews wide-eyed with disbelief as he raised a hand to touch his bleeding lip. Abruptly, his face split with a grin of genuine delight.

"Oh, Good, at least some real fun. I was beginning to get bored with the whole affair." Matthews cracked his neck twice, once to the left and once to the right, and suddenly threw himself forward, rushing at the now-demon detective even as the other moved forward to meet the blow. There was a soundless explosion of sound and light from the moment of impact, and before the moment had faded, Matthews was flying backward, horizontally stretched only inches from the floor. Amakaze was atop the soldier, one hand grasping the edge of his coat and the other balled into a fist and hammering mercilessly at Matthews' face. Each strike from the Spirit Detective knocked Matthews' head back and onto the floor that blurred beneath them, slowing their rush slightly and bringing him closer to the ground. As momentum began to die, Matthews' shoulders touched the metal flooring, and the soldier bent his legs upward as his body came to abrupt stop. Amakaze was suddenly flying, propelled by the transferred speed, and spun in the air, his back hitting the far wall with bone cracking impact.

Matthews twisted on the ground, pushing off from the metal with his hands, and drove his foot deep into Amakaze's stomach with a kick. Amakaze doubled over with a groan as Matthews regained his footing, and lashed out with a punch toward the demon's head, twisting him around. Amakaze's knees flexed as he spun in the air, striking out with a kick that Matthews barely managed to avoid by pulling backwards and stumbling off balance. Amakaze's clawed hands slashed outward, first down at Matthew's head and then, when the soldier dodged aside, from the left at the midsection. Both misses left deep scoring down the wall that backstopped the blows, the edges of the metal red-hot and melted. Amakaze lashed out again with his claws, and Matthews twisted his hand around, his palm suddenly blazing with light as Amakaze's claws were stopped by a perfect recreation of the Spirit Sword. The soldier took advantage of the lull to reach forward and slap his outstretched palm against the half-demon's chest, sending him reeling. In only a moment, though, the detective was ready for more.

Both forms blazed with energy, their bodies leaving afterimages with the sheer speed of their movement. Overwhelmed with bloodlust, Amakaze pressed the attack against his opponent mercilessly, forcing the soldier back time and time again. The demonized detective did not seem to tire nor feel any of the injuries that his previous body had sustained, but that was not what sent a chill down Yusuke's spine. It was the smile Amakaze wore, and the way he chuckled when he was hit, and laughed when he landed a blow.

He was enjoying it.

"What exactly is this form, Zandock?" Yoko's gravelly voice cut through Yusuke's reverie, drawing his attention away from the battle, "What did he do to himself?"

"He's unleashed his demon form." Zandock's voice was calm, but his right hand trembled slightly as he continued to watch the fray, "Most half-demons manage a sort of balance, literally melding human and demon into a seamless whole. We're rather...different."

"Different how?"

"We, unlike most, actually have to choose which side we're tapping into. Normally, we tap into our spirit energy, look human, act human, and have control over ourselves...The demon side has a lot more power, but it's also a lot more dangerous. Keeping a handle on the demon side while using the demon powers is like walking a tight rope...and the longer it goes on, the less of his human side will be in control."

"And if he loses control?"

"He'll try to kill every living thing he can find."

The two combatants were still hammering each other without pause as the fight continued. Suddenly, Amakaze reached forward and managed to grab hold of Matthews' neck. Before either could react, the demon was surrounded by a swirling vortex of wind, lifting both himself and Matthews off the ground and into the ceiling like a bullet.

Yusuke blinked at the bent metal, and the hole in the ceiling where the pair had penetrated. Little bits of plaster and rooftop trickled down through the opening as the building settled to its new look.

"I guess they're taking it outside."

---

"What on earth?" Shishi snapped his head up and leapt to the left as a blur of motion passed through the air where he had just been and smashed heavily into the ground, pushing up asphalt and skidding to a halt after scouring a deep indent into the hard ground. The blue haired demon stumbled slightly, before regaining his center and turned to face this new found intrusion. It took a moment to resolve the image into something that registered correctly.

An impeccably dressed human was half buried in the debris, the upper half of his torso being raised as the second figure slammed his fist down onto the soldier's face, laughing all the while. Shishi blinked as his mind slowly placed the face of the second figure, was that...Amakaze?

Before Shishi could tell for certain Matthews, and as Shish stretched out with his senses he knew that it was indeed Matthews, recovered from the fall and, with a blur of motion, managed to wedge his leg between himself and the laughing demon, propelling Amakaze backward. Before the other had even hit the ground, Matthews stretched out his hand and launched a blast of energy that seared the ground as it screamed out to Amakaze with a dull roar and heavy explosion of impact.

Smoke rose in torrents from the point of impact as Matthews pushed himself back onto his feet, a few beads of sweat glistening on his forehead as he straightened his as-yet undamaged suit, brushing ineffectually at the dust that covered the fine material. His eyes, however, did not leave the smoke cloud, and his muscles were still waiting for an attack to come from it. But, because of that, his back was to Shishi.

Shishi Wakamaru tensed, nodding to himself. His sword was already unsheathed and he carefully stepped closer to his enemy, making no sound. Matthews did not turn to face him, so focused was he on watching the place where Amakaze had fallen so shortly ago. Not wishing to lose his moment, Shishi snapped his sword up to ready position and charged. Halfway to Matthews, the soldier seemed to realize what was going on and began to turn. Shishi's sword gleamed in coldly in the moonlight as he raised it over his head, preparing himself for the last few steps.

There was a flash of moment, a sort of blur through the air, and a wet crunch. Shishi found himself at a halt, his sword slipping from nerveless hands to clatter noisily to the ground, his eyes open wide, staring into yellow slitted cat-eyes. Amakaze stood between Shishi and Matthews, both the latter and the former surprised by this action. The half-demon was crouched down, his arm thrust forward toward Shishi up to the wrist, where it disappeared inside the blood hold that had abruptly opening the middle of the former Uratogi's chest.

"A-Ama...w-what?" Shishi fell to his knees as Amakaze pulled his bloody hand free with another audible crunch. Slowly, the former spirit detective raised the red-stained hand to his lips, and licked up the crimson liquid, fangs shining in the moonlight.

"My Kill. Not yours." He growled finally, lifting his foot and driving it down onto the bleeding chest wound, drawing a scream from the demon and sending him backwards into the dirt, where he lay motionless. A cackle began to build as Amakaze watched the fall, but Matthews rushed in from behind, and the fight was on again.

On the ground, staring up at the moon as his own blood warmed him, Shishi Wakamaru's face was lit with almost childlike intensity as he studied the brilliant paleness.

He wished he could have died with his sword.

---

"Look out, Yusuke!" Kurama's warning was almost too late as Yusuke unquestioningly flung himself aside. To catch his breath, the spirit detective had been leaning against one of the metal walls. That same metal wall was bent inward with a sound of screeching iron and impact. After a moment, the entire wall was ripped away, and a form hit the ground and rolled. When it came to a stop, Yusuke realized with a start that it was Matthews, covered in dust and groaning as he climbed back to his feet. In the newly created doorway, Amakaze stood framed by the moon, laughing his head off.

As Yusuke watched him laugh, it slowly began to dawn on him that, even if Amakaze defeated Matthews, they might have just traded one problem for another.

"Well..you certainly surprised me." Matthews brought himself up to his feet painfully, wiping a long string of blood of his chin, "I didn't realize you had this much power locked up in that little human frame of yours." Matthews stance became more firm as he brushed dirt off of himself, rolling his shoulders, "Alright then, you've had your fun. Time to put you down." The soldier crouched down; his hands in front of him like a prayer as he gathered his energy. Slowly, his form began to blur around the edges.

"No, I don't believe it!" Suzaku exclaimed, his eyes open wide with horror, "It can't be! You never had me in your machine!"

"You idiot, you think I need the Machine right now?" Matthews began to waver and divide, "With all the spirit energy I have, I learned your technique the first time you used it against me..."

"Black Secret Technique. The Prism of Seven!"

---

"Watch your back!" Suzuka rushed past Chu, driving a small metal device into the soldier before the other could bring the butt of his rifle down on Chu's unprotect back. The man sizzled a moment with electricity, and went limp as Suzuka pulled away.

"Thanks mate, I'll admit, I'm slowing down a bit." The drunken fighter rotated on his back leg, snapping out with a kick that caught two soldiers and deposited them, broken, on the ground, "These guys just won't quit."

"We'll all slowing down." Suzuka confirmed, standing back-to-back with Rinku as the carved a path through the remaining soldiers, "That's the whole point of this."

"They're hoping we're going to make a mistake, that's when they'll-." Chu cut himself off as a scream broke into his concentration. He looked over his shoulder, to find that a soldier had snaked past Rinku's defense, around the dodging youth, and driven a knife into the unprotected back of the inventor, Suzuka. Even as Rinku's Yo-Yo struck out and knocked the man to the side, another of the uniform JSDF members came in from the front, with another knife. Chu took that one out, and they took stock.

"Chu..." Suzuka began, on his knees, holding onto the bleeding wound in his front, slowing the flow as the one on his back continued to bleed, "Chu, I've...I've got to.."

"I know mate...You did your best. Get out of here."

Suzuka looked up, his teeth colored red with blood, and nodded gravely. His hands extended, his spirit energy carving through the space in front of him, forming the mislabeled Sphere of No Return. With one last look to Chu and Rinku, he stepped into his own attack.

Suzuka vanished.

---

Amakaze was barely conscious, his arms swinging out well wide of any of the Matthews and the images danced around him. Fists and feet struck out with dizzying speed, driving into his blooded face and knocking the wind out of him again and again. The beating had continued since Matthews had used Suzaku's technique, and it was immediately clear that Amakaze didn't have a chance. The fact that he had withstood the beating for as long as he had was testament to the toughness of his demon form.

It finally happened. Amakaze struck out with all his remaining strength, managing to catch one of the Matthews across the chin and send him skidding into the wall, but even as that happened one of the other Matthews stepped up with a reciprocating shot to the face. Amakaze spun slowly, blood and sweat glistening on his face in equal measure as his knees gave out, dropping the half demon to the floor. He did not rise, and the images of Matthews blurred together, once again becoming a single enemy.

"Well, that was actually a lot of fun." Matthews dusted his hand off, rubbing his jaw lightly with one hand, "And, as an added bonus, that splitting technique is a lot cheaper on the spirit energy then Blaze's, if less versatile. Thanks so much, Suzie."

"Don't mention it." Suzaku growled, but there was fear in his eyes, "And don't shorten my name like that."

"Whatever you say....Suzie." Matthews laughed as Suzaku's eyes took on a deadly glitter, "Don't you get it yet? I can do whatever I please, because there's not a single person who can stop me. Don't you see? That's what power and truth are in the world! Those with power create the truth! I can reshape the world as I see fit.."

"Not...Not done with you...yet..." A fierce low voice said, and Matthews rolled his eyes to the heavens and heaved a great sigh as he turned around. Amakaze was back on his feet, albeit shakily. The half-demon wiped blood from his mouth, and screamed as he crouched down. Energy blazed around his hands, rising up to the forearms, a searing pair of white lights that painted everything with a growing pale luminescence. The light continued to grow as tendrils of energy appeared in the air, feeding the fire with spirit energy.

"Aren't you done yet, Ama?" Matthews asked with another long suffering sigh. Negligently, he turned his back to the former spirit detective, speaking over his shoulder, "You can't beat me, none of you can, but you just keep trying. You just keep wasting your energy. What would I have to do to that thick skull of yours just to make you see that you can't beat me alone."

"He isn't alone." Matthews' eyes snapped to the left and a blue glow began to overtake the white, but that lights source came from a different place. Yusuke was back on his feet, his left arm bent and broken, but his right still gathering energy. Three dots appeared around Yusuke's wrist, each one a spirit 'bullet' so to speak, an energy that could be converted easily into his trademark attack. As Matthews watched, those three dots touched each other, wavered, and burned together like a miniature sun. The ball of energy dipped into Yusuke, and his energy painted the entire room blue. For a long moment, Matthews stared at the pair as the energy built around them, as though calculating something. Then he laughed, turning his back again,

"Go on ahead, my friends. You don't have the energy to get to me, even combined. If you want to throw it all around it one last shot, be my guest, but you simply don't have the means with which to-."

"Then we'll create the means." Once again, Matthews head jerked around to a combatant supposedly out of the fight. Yoko still lay entangled in the bloody vine, but his left arm was free. It strained out, spirit energy rising from it like a wave of pale water, flowing outward and twisting around a black form rising from the ground. As the energy left him, Yoko faded, leaving a tired Kurama it's place, but Matthews was watching the black shadow.

"H-Hiei?" Matthews took a step back, but pursed his lips in an outward appearance of uncaring, "Well now, finally decided to embrace your role as a weak human, fighting for the protection of the weak and downtrodden. Perhaps the Forlorn Hope has altered you too much to retain your-."

"It altered me enough." Hiei said shortly, his hands bunched at his sides, his sword wound forgotten, and his tattooed right arm glowing back as he took Kurama's energy in and altered it, binding it to his own purpose. Black energy enveloped him like smoke, faint screams through the air as miniature dragons formed and dissolved in the smoke, "I know what I am, regardless of what my body is. It's time I trusted in that."

For once, Matthews didn't say anything at all. Sweat formed at his brow as the energies gathered. The room burned as each combatant struggled to maximize their attacks before launched it. The soldier took a step backwards, probably without realizing it, and jumped slightly as an electric crackle sounded behind him. He spun around only to see three sets of violet eyes, and three arrows of burning electricity. He spun slowly like a caged animal to find that Suzaku had surrounded him, one on every side, and each was drawing energy for a final storm of torment.

"H-Hehe...an impressive e-effort, friends." Matthews scoffed, pulling himself up to his full height, "But futile. You might...might...be able to punch into me if you could all hit me at the same time...I may not be able to dodge ALL of you, but I can dodge most of it."

"We don't have to hit you. You'll move in front of us." Yusuke said quietly, and the grave faces of his friends shown brightly, somehow more visible then even the light would account for, as they inevitably moved to the final attack.

"And what makes you think I would do that?" Matthews asked, with none of the laughter or scorn his previous sentences had contained.

"Because your energy isn't yours, and it will fade eventually...your reign with crumble without that THING behind you!" Ten attacks shifted aim, ten attack lined up perfectly, and ten attack came to rest, pointed at the hulking shape that the prisoners had called 'The Machine."

"No!" Matthews threw himself to the side, and the energy of the place was released. The air burned, sizzled, and screamed with protest as the gathered energies roared toward their foe. Matthews scrambled before the Machine, his suit blazing with energy, his entire body so potently channeling that the entirety of his form disappeared with light. Seven arrows of lightning struck first, the room painted orange as it struck against a wall of spirit, a bubble that surrounded Matthews and his machine. A human sounding grunt came from the glowing sphere of light as Yusuke's spirit gun impact, indenting a section of the bubble as it tried to pierce it. The ball of blue energy was soon flanked by white as Amakaze's pair of laser shots hit to its left and right, all three moving inexhaustibly forward.

"See! You can't do it!" Matthews voice roared over the scream and burn of energy, "You're not strong enough to beat me, it cannot be done by you people! I am invincible!" The energy held off the shock of the arrows, and the spirit guns, and both began to fade slowly. Matthews energy began to deplete, and he could be seen again, his eyes wild and his mouth foaming slightly as he stood braced against the onslaught, "I am absolutely invincible!"

"Like Hell you are!" Hiei reared back, his hand engulfed with black fire as he strained to draw it forth. With a cry, he thrust forward, a twin pair of Dragon's spinning around each other for a moment, and abruptly arcing away. One went to the left, and one to the right and veered inward, slamming into the shield on either side. A bright crack of Yellow formed in the shield, spreading and multiplying rapidly as the bubble shrunk.

"This cannot be! This is imposs-!" With one final deafening explosion, the shield collapsed, and the entire room was engulfed in light.

---

"Here we go again.." Chu said, focusing himself for another round of kick-the-soldiers, "Hope we can make one or two more go-arounds."

"Wait, something's happening..." Rinku stopped him, putting a hand on the big fighter's shoulder, "Something's going on."

"We know what's going on, they're getting back up." Chu snapped over his shoulder, "They've always-what the bloody hell?" Involuntarily he spun to stare at the Barracks as energy, impossible energy, gathered there. He could almost make out the individual parts, it was...

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Chu jumped as a man screamed behind him, and he spun around again, only to see Sid, who had led the assault against them without emotion even as he was getting cut up or destroyed, on the ground, banging his head into the concrete, "Ahh! Get out of my mind! Get him out of my head, please!!"

"What's going on?" Rinku demanded, turning squarely to face him as Chu began to laugh, "Do you know?"

"Ain't it obvious?" Chu chuckled, "Soldier boy is getting tied up by whatever going on in there that he's losing it out here. They're going to break free of his-."

The ground suddenly dropped out from under their feet as the earth gave a violent shudder. The sky lit up with energy as the entire roof of the complex was blown off. Energy washed over the battle field, and Chu instinctively stepped in front of the child-like Rinku, shielding his friend with his body. The light was blinding even with his eyes squeezed tight, and the impact was a horrible experience that seemed to slam into him from all sides forever, though he knew it couldn't have lasted longer then ten seconds.

Slowly, he came back to himself to find himself on the ground, his ears ringing from the noise. Painfully and carefully, he pulled himself to his feet, and was comforted to find Rinku doing the same, more or less unharmed. All around him, soldiers were rising up, talking in low voices, apparently confused by what had happened. Black smoke rose from the mostly standing complex, parts of it smoldering slightly with near-fires.

"Well I'll be. The son of a bitch did it!"

---

"Yusuke, Yusuke! Wake up Yusuke! Wake up!"

"Mmmmpph...Mom? Dun wanna go to school...let me sleep five more minutes..."

"Yusuke, you fool, get up before I stab you in the chest!"

Yusuke blinked sleepily. That voice didn't sound like his moment, and the threat was a little much when he hadn't actually done anything. In fact, both the threat and the voice sounded more like...

"Hiei?!" His eyes snapped open as the whole episode came back to him. He sat up and immediately regretted it as his head threatened to split open almost immediately, "Ow..Ow..I've got a headache."

"Be glad that's the least of your worries, detective." A tired voice spoke up. Yusuke looked over to see a fully human Amakaze hanging onto sitting position, pulling a much crumble cardboard box from his ripped shirt pocket, the label 'Lucky 7' stamped across the side. He fished inside it for a moment, remove a cigarette and smiling up at his brothers, both of whom had done more or less the same thing, "Anyone think to bring the light?"

"Here." One of the Suzaku's limped toward them, his hand producing a lighter from one of his pocket and setting the end of each cancer-strick ablaze. Amakaze smiled slightly as he viewed the lighter and the distinctive bullet lodged into the side of it, "So..Vince gets to join our celebration." He was about to puff on his cigarette when Zandock 'thumped' him across the back of the head, nearly making him swallow it.

"You moron!" The Hakudou snapped, "You know better then to unleash your demon form like that! You could have killed us all, you know, or worse!"

"Yeah yeah, coulda, but didn't." Amakaze flashed a roguish grin, "Using all that energy tired out my demon side and snapped him back to human, so it all works out, right?"

"Yeah, but still..-."

"Yusuke, how's that arm of yours?" Kurama was bleeding from several deep wounds, but none looked to be immediately life threatening, "Can you manage until we get back to the temple?"

"No problem." Yusuke chuckled, "Kuwabara did a lot worse then me before, and he never even beat me." The spirit detectives eye roamed to the center of the destruction, where a blackened pit marked the spot where Matthews had stood, the still frame of the machine burned and slightly twisted behind it, "I didn't expect a god to be so easy to defeat, did you?"

"You should have been onboard for the Maxwell crisis." Caspar confided, his eyes sparkling as he helped Yusuke to his feet, "That one was a real toughie. Comparatively, this guy was just a poser."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you've faced so much worse." Yusuke rolled his eyes as they began to walk back toward the door.

"Damn straight, young man." Zandock grinned, his voice creaking like an old man as he hobbled as if with back pain. He mimed slapping Yusuke with a cane, "Why, when I was your age, we had REAL demons, none of this spirit stuff to help us neither...Had to walk to Makai uphill both ways...and we liked it!"

"I'll bet." Yusuke laughed, wiping his brow, "I'm just glad I get to go home now."

"And where do you think you're going?"

The entire entourage froze in its tracks, unwilling to have heard that voice, but certain that they did. Yusuke turned around, eyes as wide as dinner-plates. Yes, it was him. Matthews emerged from behind the Machine, his suit torn and burned off him in place. The left side of his face was cut up and bleeding, and a few embers still smoldered on his shoulder as he faced them. A familiar smirk tugged at his lips, but his eyes glittered angrily.

"Do you have any idea how much this suit cost?"

---

"Woo-hoo!" Chu whooped, raising his hand in the air in celebration, "I don't believe he did it! Yeah, Yusuke!"

"Uh...Chu..."

"I can't believe he managed that! I mean, with all that energy, I thought the whole lot of us was dead for sure!"

"Uh..Hey, Chu..."

"I mean, I'm no ashamed to admit I was thinking about cutting and running there for a while, I mean, who'd have thought of-."

"Chu!"

"What are you going on abo- Holy God..." Chu trailed off as he spun, craning his neck upward as a rising monstrosity blocked out the moon. The pale light shown on metal as the beast of a machine settled back onto its six legs like some gargantuan spider. The legs joined together as a flat top, almost like a square car set atop the mass. Strapped to the main body of the thing, four slot opened, and circular gatling guns emerged and began to spin.

"Are you ready, Monstruos?" Carlos Joaquin asked quietly, "Your friend broke my motorcycle, so I had to find a new machine, do you like it? No? Well, I'm sorry to hear it that..."

"You see, it'll be the last thing you DO see before you die."

---

The gunshot was abnormally loud in the silence, and the impact against his right shoulder spun Amakaze around. Without a moments pause, Matthews pulled the trigger again, and again, each time driving another bullet in the spirit detective's back. After twelve shots, the bullets ran out with an audible click, and Amakaze finally dropped to the ground, his breath rushing out of him with a strained hiss.

"You bastard!" Zandock straightened, his feet falling heavily as he began to charge the soldier. He had made it only one step before Matthews had, in a blur of motion, reloaded and reaimed again. The first two bullets to the chest slowed Zandock in his forward rush, the third stopped him entirely, and the last three sent home down onto his back with a half-uttered scream that choked off quickly. Without waiting for the last brother to move, the last six bullets found Caspar's chest before he had fully adjusted to the situation.

The pistol smoked as Matthews slowly lowered it. In less then a minute, all three of the former spirit detectives were on the ground, and their breathing came ragged and poorly, "Well, that takes care of the old flavor, shall I move onto the new?"

"Why..You son of a-." Yusuke began, but a soft hand touched his arm. It was only then that he registered Matthews' stunned look over his shoulder.

"That's enough, Yusuke." Koenma's disguised face was serious as he strode regally forward. His eyes falling upon the fallen detectives and twisting a moment with some form of regret, "Matthews..."

"I didn't expect to see you yet." Matthews admitted, popping his knuckles, "In fact, I didn't expect to see you until I overthrew spirit world and pulled you from your home, kicking and screaming. You surprise me, spirit ruler. Come to fight me yourself?"

"No...No I haven't." Koenma sighed, his eyes closing with pain for a moment before opening. His next words came with difficulty, "I've come...to discuss...terms.."

"Terms? What terms?" Yusuke was the one who said it, but the same question was on the mind of every human, demon, or half-breed that overheard it. Koenma sighed, his eyes open and shaking as he continued gravely.

"To discuss your terms...for our surrender."


	37. Chapter 30: A Dynasty Ended

**Chapter 30: A Dynasty Ended**

"To discuss your terms…for our surrender."

Koenma's last words did not echo, not with half the roof of the room missing, but the silence afterward was almost palpable for a long moment. Faint gunshot rang outside, and each fighter's breathing seemed loud and strange as they stared at one another. Even Matthews and Yusuke, neither of whom had ever had difficulty finding something to say, were silent in the oppressive moment, though they found their voices first.

"Run that by me again, Spirit Ruler?"

"What the hell are you doing, Koenma?"

"Shut up, Yusuke." Koenma snapped automatically, barely looking at him, "I know what I'm talking about, this time." Resolutely, the disguised form turned back to Matthews, "I'll restate…I'm here on behalf of the Spirit World to discuss the terms of the surrender of the same to you. The demobilization of the SDF, the recall of all Spirit Detective, and the orderly transfer of artifacts and information to your Empire…In other words, I offer the end of our Resistance."

"Koenma…you can't just-.." Kurama's returned human form pleaded, "I mean-…we can't allow him to walk away with the victory."

"And how exactly will you stop him?" Koenma asked pointedly, holding Kurama's eyes with laser-like intensity. When there was no reply, those same eyes swept the room, taking in the carnage and beaten bodies, "Look around, friends, and see the truth. You fought well, and valiantly, and you brought more force to bear then I could ever have expected of you. But you were defeated. You've nothing left. He has taken the best we can offer, and defeated it without loss. Time to cut _our_ losses and move on…with the new world."

"The hell with that!" Yusuke's anger surged to the fore, and the energy that accompanied it blazed into being like a blue coronal sheen. The battered and bruised youth pushed him forward, flying forward with one last extended fist, his eyes closed and his teeth gritted, expecting, even hoping, for instant obliteration as a response, but it wasn't.

Matthews sighed and extended his hand slowly, and the blue sheen around Yusuke jumped from the Spirit Detective and gathered around the soldier's hand like a falcon returning to the hand. Deprived of energy, Yusuke's headlong rush faltered and he dropped to the flooring.

"Wha-..Yusuke!" Koenma shouted, much too late to make a difference, and the Ruler knelt beside his chosen fighter, checking his pulse briefly, and finding a completely drained, but living, teenager, "How did you-..?"

"Oh, Koenma…Koenma. You've got a practical head on your shoulders I admit, but even you are getting caught up with conventional thinking. I _understand _spirit energy, like no one has, and of course I should." Matthews lectured, rolling his eyes as he looked down on Yusuke, passing the blue energy back and forth between his fingers playfully, "I have the spirit energy of many different people within me, and I know their techniques. I _know _spirit energy, and I know how to manipulate it. So if I sense it somewhere, I can take it, like so."

Matthews hand extended again, and there was a shuddering gasp from behind Koenma for a moment, before multicolored light streamed around him, rising from each of the fighters with an agonizing cry and mixing with the ball of Yusuke's energy, before disappearing into Matthews, giving him a vaguely glowing aura. Koenma's eyes opened wide as he involuntarily stepped back. The only people with energy now were Matthews..and himself, "How..How can you do that? It's impossible!"

"Impossible for you, but not for me." Matthews grinning ironically, stuffing his hands into his pocket, "I could have done it at any time I wished, you know. Taken their powers, I mean, but I didn't."

"Why..Why not?"

"Because I had to know." Matthews eyes were glittering, "I had to stack the deck against myself, that's why I directed my men to attack your precious hackers and bring them out of hiding, that's why I let Ama infiltrate, and that's why I got that fool Avery to go after Yusuke in the first place. I knew that all the forces you could bring to bear would fall in behind him and come after me all at once, and I had to know I could live through that. I had to know my limits, and now I do. I have none. Thus, I will own this world and the one beyond."

"Perhaps." Koenma had gathered his diplomatic wits, and his face was impassive again, "But I believe I'm here to hear your terms, not your ranting."

"So serious, Koenma…you should relax a bit. The Ruler of Spirit World just offered me the keys to his kingdom, and it calls for a celebration." A dark smile touched the soldier's lips as he bent and plucked the still lit cigarette from Amakaze's mouth. With a start, Yusuke realized that the former spirit detective's chest no longer moved, and the blood had slowed its flowing from the pale youth, "You don't mind if I borrow this do you, Ama?...Hhmm?...I'll take your silence as a no." The cigarette burned bright as Matthews puffed briefly on the end and exhaled a cloud of smoke, "I'll need to look him up in the Spirit World, I owe his soul some pain."

"Your terms." Koenma insisted, his voice hard as steel.

"My terms are simple." Matthews said, rolling his eyes, "I have power and you don't, so the only correct settlement is unconditional surrender. At my pleasure, I'll decide whether to assimilate parts of your organization or execute them, and I'll put policy in motion. Everyone will yield to my Empire…or they'll die. Those are my terms; take them or leave them."

Koenma was silent for a long moment, taking a long step to the left to check on Amakaze, but Matthews took an identical step, blocking his path. For a long moment, neither spoke, but stared into the others eyes, looking for weakness. It was Koenma who broke first, his gaze shifting downward as his words came with difficulty.

"Alright…I'll take that."

---

"That thing's bleedin' insane, mate!" Chu yelled over the roar of gunfire. Those who produced chain guns often said, with a high degree of truth, that the mere _sound _of the weapon can take the heart right out of infantry men. Few had ever boasted about, or indeed considered, the noise of four of them pointed in the same direction, and they had never heard of Spirit Energy charging the bullets, screaming all along the way. The monstrous spider robot, piloted by Carlos Joaquin, had at least four firing at once, as he laughed over the intercom.

Chu eased a quick look around from the dubious shelter of a tank half shoved into the gravel by Jin's rush. The glowing bullets flooded out like four 'plasma streams' from cheap sci-fi movies, chewing up anything in its way. The ground near the machine was riddled with blackened craters and the areas further out were riddled with holes like swiss cheese. Not a few bloody bodies lay around the war zone, soldier freed from Matthews trap, only to die in another one. One of the guns swiveled toward the tank, and the metal was rocked with pinging sounds as the rounds began to eat through the armor.

"We don't have long, kid." Chu said regretfully, leaning back against the metal and taking a long swig from a bottle before passing it over. Rinku didn't normally drink, didn't look old enough for it, but what the hell, "We'd be cut up the moment we step around this thing, and it's not gonna last too much longer…Just wanted to say that, well, it's been good working with you. You're the toughest tyke I've ever seen, and my first choice for a tag team brawl, next to 'Meshi maybe."

"Yeah, it was good times with you too." Rinku agreed quietly, taking a swig and wincing from the strong spirits, "I never really thanked you for taking me with you, out of that stupid neighborhood. I've had a lot of fun traveling around with you, and I never would have gotten to know Urameshi without it."

"Yeah…" The two sat in silence for a moment, listening to the bullets eat through the tanks armor. A round or two managed to piece it, zipping into the ground between them, as Chu stirred slightly, "It's sad, you know? This is the first time I've fought for anything other them myself, like a hero or something. I thought the heroes were supposed to win…"

"They will." Rinku promised, smiling slightly, "They always do. It may take a generation or two of heroes, but there's always somebody who'll stand up and fight, no matter what the cost, even to de-." Rinku's voice cut off with a wet sounding crunch, and a drop of warm blood splattered on the right hand side of Chu's face, but he didn't look. He heard the heavy thud beside him, but he vowed to himself that there wasn't a power on heaven and earth that would make him look to his right,

It would have broken him.

Chu instead turned his eyes to the stars, watching them for a long moment, until, quick as thought, pain burned through his back and more blood sprang up at him. Dimly, his felt his body collapse onto the gravel as the darkness started in.

Chu welcomed the darkness, and hoped the new generation would have better luck.

---

"Well good. Spirit World can start its disarmament immediately. You know, Koenma, you're much more practical then I thought. Perhaps I'll keep you around as sort of an administrator, or-."

"You misunderstand." Koenma said quietly, but his hand was quicker then a striking snake as it snapped out and grabbed the cancer stick from Matthews' mouth, followed by a kick that sent the soldier back a step with sheer surprise.

"Koenma! What are you-."

"I said I'd take that…The cigarette is what I meant." Koenma said simply, crushing it between his fingers in a puff of smoke, "Amakaze wouldn't want you corrupting his brand. As for your terms, we reject them utterly. We're not going to surrender to you, you freak."

"How dare you speak to the Emperor that way?!" Matthews's eyes were flashing insanely as he staggered to his feet, "What makes you think you can resist me? I'll destroy you and your precious spirit world, and piss all over the ashes! Is that what you want!"

"You're not the Emperor of anything, Gui Matthews." Koenma snapped, turning his back with a twirl of his cape, "You're nothing but a meaningless incompetent, hardly worth my time to berate. Go back to your hole and die there, where normal people won't have to live with your stench."

"You foolish incompetent! I'll crush you!" Matthews' voice twisted horribly as he exploded with multicolored light. Flashes of green and red twisted with yellow, blue, and violet formed around him in a dizzying display of power control. Wind screamed from him, buffeting the fighters and nearly pushing Yusuke off his feet. Koenma's cloak flapped in the gale as his hand shielded his squinting eyes from the glow. The soldier's fingers curled around nothing, calling forth a ball of pure energy a large as a person, "Say goodbye, Spirit Ruler! And so long Yusuke!"

"Do it now!" Koenma's voice rocked through the maelstrom with all of his strength behind it. The ball burned forward, expanding as it came, until there was nothing left but its shining vengeance coming at them. Even with Yusuke's eyelids closed, the blinding light stabbed into his eyes like daggers until he pressed his face into his shoulder, his last words lost in the noise as he awaited the inevitable.

But it didn't come. The light faltered somewhat, and Yusuke carefully opened his eyes to the now only mostly blinding room as he tried to assess. He almost wished that he hadn't done so. The energy was inches from his face, and it wasn't until he had automatically scrambled backward that he realized it wasn't moving. In fact, it was getting smaller by the second, streams of spiritual power emerging from its sides and arcing backward. Around the spots in his vision from the brightness, Yusuke could barely make out Koenma's silhouette as it straightened against the fading light, the set of his shoulder's unmistakably relieved. As the light faded, Yusuke found he could almost see through it to the other side of the energy, and his breathe caught in his throat with a surprised gasp.

Matthews' feet were inches above the ground, and his screaming gradually overtook the fading noise of his attack as energy crackled harshly over his body, electricity skittering from tooth to tooth and skating down his arms. The entirety of his body convulsed as he hung suspended by the mechanical apparatus buried in his back. Yusuke's eyes followed the tube down into the bank of computers, and he realized that Matthews was now stuck to his own Machine. A bandaged figure at the controls turned and flashed a 'V' gesture to him, and Yusuke found his voice.

"Kuwabara?!" He asked incredulously.

"Hehe, you didn't think I'd like you hog all the world-saving, did you Urameshi?" Kuwabara laughed, wincing slightly as he touched the bandages around his stomach, "I've had much worse then this and kept fighting you know."

"B-But h-how." Matthews stuttered, his voice filled with pain and dripping with hatred, "H-how could a h-human s-sneak up on m-me like that..I-I'm..invincible…"

"You made a mistake Matthews." Koenma said calmly, but there was a tremor of relieved fear in his voice, "There's more to life then spirit energy, and I thought that you, of all people, would know that. Your own machine will drain you to the dregs, and it's not your energy, so it'll never come back. You've lost, Matthews, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Matthews face twitched, unaffected by the energy skittering around him. His eyes widened as he threw his head back, screaming out to the sky, a noise that seemed to set the air on fire. The light streams of energy rolling off his body doubled in size, and double again as he blazed forth anew. The light humming of the Machine grew louder as Matthews gathered his energy together. The lights dimmed as the throbbing machine begin to require more resources, and Yusuke though he saw a flash of something familiar over Matthews. The energy sizzled in the air, and for a moment, it was Rinku hanging suspending on the Machine, and then Chu, and then Kurama, and Hiei, and Suzaku, and each time the energy grew faster.

"He's throwing everything he's got at it!" Koenma's voice was tinged with fresh panic as he glances helplessly at Yusuke, "He's using everything he's stolen!"

"Hey Hey, this thing isn't looking too hot!" Kuwabara shouted over his shoulder, flinching slightly as one of the Machine dials exploded with sparks. The throbbing became a screech of overworked metal as the tube began to glow red with the heat. Electricity skittered over one of the control panels before it imploded with sparks and burning chemicals, and still Matthews poured energy back into his own creation.

"Do something, Yusuke!" Koenma called desperately, ducking as the lights overhead exploded, sending bits of glass downward over them. Yusuke threw himself sideways as the light fixture crashed to the floor where he'd been standing. The only light in the room was Matthews glowing aura for a moment, until the emergency lights along the walls lit up a dull red.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Yusuke demanded, pushing himself to his feet by sheer force of will, "You said it yourself, we got nothing left!"

The flashes were coming faster, demons and humans, both familiar and unknown. He saw Avery, Peterson, and Blaze flash by in quick succession, and Haze, Boone, Suzuka, Bui, God, the sniper, and demons Yusuke had never even imagined. The Machine was shuddering now, parts of the metal glowing white hot. Kuwabara threw himself backward, nearly knocking down as table in his haste, and the console he had found the clearly marked switch on melted inward for a half second, before exploding with little bits of wires and glass. With a snap of released tension, a thick cable burned off from the main tube and sprayed sparking electricity straight in the face of one of the Suzaku's, who screams as bits of his clothes caught fire. Even the emergency lights were flickering now as the sound reached a crescendo that forced them to put their hands over this heads.

Matthews' eyes were open wide, and bits of spittle collected along the side of his mouth as he threw him hand forward, his visage suddenly altering to mimic Yusuke's own. The Machine pulsed and whined, and the noise roared, the light blinded, and the whole room disappeared with the force of energy.

And, abruptly, it was over. The Machine beeped once, politely, as Matthews slid off the needles to the floor. The flickering emergency lights returned, and the room was utterly quiet, as if to deny the events that had just occurred. The soldier lay on his face, the back of his torn suit bloodied as he breathed with difficulty, left with only the tiny flecks that were his own spiritual powers.

"Is it over?" It was Suzaku, his body bent over one of his images, beating out the last of the flames from the exploding equipment, "Is it finally done?"

"Yes, my friends, it's over." Koenma said slowly, sinking to his knees, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he was holding in a great rush of air, "It's all over."

"Not quite." Hiei said quietly, one hand held tightly to his stomach. His foot came down of the hilt of his broken sword, and the shortened weapon flipped deftly into his palm, "I hope you don't mind if I execute him right now, do you Koenma?"

"Not at all, Hiei." Koenma's smile was just this side of wicked as he looked down at Matthews who, slowly regaining strength, was pushing himself backward away from the short demon, "Though may I suggest using the gun that he so carelessly left on the ground? It would seem to have a greater level of poetic justice."

"I'd much prefer to do it with my sword, but a warrior must make adjustments for the sentiments of his allies, I suppose." Hiei stooped and snatched up the fallen handgun, straightening with finality as Matthews began to struggle to his feet, his knees threatening to buckle from under him.

"Koenma…now…don't' be foolish-..I-." The soldier began.

"Good bye, Matthews." Hiei's voice was cold, and his finger tightening on the trigger as the room seemed to collectively hold its breath. Without warning, a tiny stream of blue energy lanced out from Hiei's right, slamming into the handgun and sending the shot harmlessly through what used to be the ceiling, "What-?!"

"That would be a mistake, Hiei." A familiar smile touched Amakaze's lips as he lowered his hand, still smoking from the shot, "Trust me on that."

"Y-You! You're supposed to be dead!" Matthews objected, gaping in astonishment at the inexplicably moving trio of former spirit detectives, "I felt it. I shot you!"

"For one so obsessed with avoiding conventional thinking, you certainly get caught up with it a lot." Zandock coughed, leaning against the wall tiredly, "Playing dead is useful skill for people in our line of work…You never know when you might need to hide your energy.."

"But he shot you…" Yusuke muttered, and Amakaze winced gravely, holding his right shoulder where the bullet wound still bled. Wordlessly, he peeled the shreds of his shirt off his back where the other shots had struck, and Yusuke noticed that the abnormally thick material he had seen early was in fact…

"A bullet proof vest." Matthews bit out, closing his eyes for a moment. After a while, he began to laugh uproariously to himself, "All that amazing energy and my kill is prevented because I didn't get his bullet proof vest off!"

"You're alive, so what?" Hiei snapped, his lips pursing together tightly as he turned fully toward the former detective, "Why the hell did you spare _his_ life?"

Amakaze started to step forward, but grimaced and nearly fell as his strained muscles complained loudly. Caspar smirked slightly and, moving a bit stiffly, crossed over to the shuddering Matthews, smoothly grabbed at the dress shirt the soldier wore, and tore it open. Hiei blinked a moment at the smooth chest broken only by wires coming from the skin over the heart, a green light flashing rhythmically

"It's a transmitter." Amakaze explained painfully, "It's programmed to send a signal to this bases self destruct sequence if it is removed, damaged, or if it stops picking up Matthews' spiritual signature…for instance, if we were to accidentally kill him. He had me work on the program for it, so I can assure you that the explosion would be large enough to kill all of us, not to mention quite a few other people."

"You son of a bitch." Yusuke snapped at Matthews.

"Guilty as charged, Urameshi." Matthews chuckled, drawing himself up shakily, "I may have lost, but I'll find another way to get you. I'll keep coming back until I win."

"I rather doubt it." Koenma said coolly, "You got as far as you did with surprise, but you're a self-centered egomaniac that couldn't inspire loyalty from a dog, much less anyone with the skills to aid you, particularly once we circulate information about how many demons you killed just to advance your own goals. I doubt we'll have to lift a finger to kill you…your own kind will take care of the problem."

"We're just going to leave him here?" Kuwabara demanded, grabbing onto the front of Koenma's shirt, "Just so he can come after us again? That's stupid!"

"Think about it, Kazuma." Caspar sighed, "If we kill him, we blow ourselves up. We try to take him with us, and he'll pull the cord, and blow us all up anyway, right Matthews."

"More or less."

"About what I figured. So, we leave him here. Let the demons take care of.-" Caspar's voice cut off as a bullet of spirit energy crossed from the hole in the ceiling into the floor, where it smoldered hotly.

"I think my friend Joaquin had finished playing with your friends." Matthews said quietly, "I'd suggest you go give him something to do before he really gets bored."

Koenma grimaced, and pointed a finger at the smoldering Machine, energy bursting from his finger tips and neatly reducing the remains down to useless pieces of melted metal and debris. The rest of the party ran, walked, or limped as quickly as they could.

They had yet another hard fight ahead of them.

---

"Suzaku?" Yusuke asked quietly, as they peeked outside of the door. The monstrous spider thing was firing on the remaining soldiers, apparently enjoying slowly dismantling their defenses, leaving them huddled desperately behind what little cover they could find.

"Yeah?" Suzaku asked, his eyes a little distracted.

"Aren't you missing one?" Yusuke counted again, finding only six of the former Saint Beast in attendance.

"He's busy." Suzaku snapped shortly, and fell silent again, studying the rampaging machine with a far-away look in his eye. Yusuke blinked for a moment at the other, but apparently decided not to press for details.

"That thing took down the others, didn't it?" Kuwabara asked gravely, and Koenma nodded slowly, "I don't think we've got as much power as they had, with all the fighting we just did."

"You're right, Kuwabara." Kurama confirmed, his brain churning without success as he considered the problem, "Even with all of us at once, we don't have enough energy left in us to destroy something like that, even without the shielding it's bound to have."

"I can do it." The voice was quiet and soft, but here was hard steel underneath it. Doubt and fear did not contaminate the words, and left only cold determination in its place. Yusuke, glances at Suzaku, who had spoken, and found his eyes to hold that same determination.

"You don't have the energ-." Kurama began, but Suzaku cut him off with a brief gesture chopping gesture.

"I can get it." He said again, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, "I know what I am here for. I can destroy that thing."

"Come out come out wherever you are!" Jaoquin's voice roared over the loudspeaker, and the building shook briefly as his random firing ventures near them. He did not yet know where they were. Suzaku crouched down briefly, until the firing passed, and nodded to his other selves.

"A few things left undone." Suzaku mused to himself quietly, and stepped quickly to his left. His hand came up, cupping Kurama's chin tightly, and his lips followed to press with the startled Kurama's. Both former demons went motionlessly, and there was a brief scuffle from behind. Another Suzaku had bent lower and captured Hiei's mouth with his own, and surprise kept the other from any further objection.

Wordlessly, both kisses separated. The first Suzaku seemed to gather himself up, and he grasped Kurama's slender hand as Hiei's mimicked the move. The two Saint Beasts guided the hand together, placing one in the other, and stepped backward.

"It is time." Suzaku stated shortly, and all six strode away from the cover that they had been hiding behind. Six identical expression of confidence marched out onto the field.

"Suzaku!" Yusuke started, moving forward until an outstretched hand stopped him.

"Let him go, he knows what he's doing." Koenma muttered shortly, his expression anxious, "Lord knows the rest of us don't."

"Ah, you finally decided to stop hiding, Monstruo?" Joaquin's voice boomed as the mechanical monstrosity turned smoothly, the weapons across its service bending slightly to track the demons movement, "An excellent sentiment, Monstruo, but probably not the best idea at this current time."

"Yes. I'm not going to hide from you." Suzaku confirmed, a slight smirk touching the edge of his lips as his copies ranged out to his left and right. Weapons tracked each on their course, but none of them fired.

"You are ready to die then, Monstruo?"

"Yes, as a strict matter of fact, I believe I am." Suzaku raised his face calmly to the huge beast before him, and his faces showed no fear. All six stopped, surrounding the glowing spider-like machine. "At last, I understand what I came here to learn."

"I hope it was a good lesson, Monstruo!" Joaquin's shrill voice burst over the speaker, "It'll be the last one you ever get a chance to learn!" The guns all snapped up at once, and the barrels spun rapidly, warming up to fire.

"Suzaku!" No one could be sure exactly who's voice it was, or if it was all of them, but, regardless, the cry was lost in the eruption of noise from the weapons. Fire exploded from the tips of the rotating barrels as the weapons strafed fire all around itself all at once. Several bullets sparked off the rooftop above the heads of the main group, forcing them to duck down behind cover. The spray of bullets rolled over each Suzaku in turn, inevitable as the tides.

And punched right through him.

Red sprayed out from the backs of the silent demons as the bullets exited quickly. Neither shield nor energy blocked their path, and they dug holes in the ground after passing into their target. Abruptly, the barrels ceased firing, spinning for a few moments longer before reluctantly settling into a steaming halt.

Each Suzaku kept its feet, blood dripping down from the wounds in their chests. Each face tightened with pain, but otherwise unmoving and uncaring to the assault that had been thrown upon them.

"Monstruo?" Joaquin actually sounded frightened, "What..What is this?"

"I am not a monster, Joaquin." Suzaku began formally, his eyes suddenly ablaze with orange energy, "I am human! And I have learned what human emotion can do!" The cloudy sky above them cracked with a deep throated boom that set teeth on edge, and lightening crackled down in all directions. Strips of electricity as thick as a man's torso seemed to be everywhere, flying to each of the Suzakus in turn, at least six for every former Saint Beast. The form of the spirit detectives were lost within the swirling energies that surrounded them.

"Wh-What's going on, Monstruo!?" The great spider machine seemed frail and weak in the face of the growing energies all around it, and it shifted from left to right as if seeking some escape, "I d-don't understand! This is impossible!"

"Love…" Kurama whispered softly, and his eyes widened, "Humanity! He's going to sacrifice himself to save humanity! He's using his life energy!"

"That's impossible!" Hiei bit out, "No demon would do that for humans! He'll never be able to use that technique again if he does that!"

"He's not a demon any longer." Koenma eyes were wide as he watched the inferno.

"He's a human."

The lightening stopped raining from the sky, and the balls that were banks of energy seemed to touch together in a ring around the barely viewable machine directly in the middle of it. Each ball grew brighter and brighter, melding together like a miniature sun across the dim battlefield, painting the faces of all who watched with an orange glow. And finally, the energy exploded.

The eruption was quick, and it consumed the copies of Suzaku and the evil machine. When the lightning dissipated, there was only smoke and patches of flame to mark the place of the eruption. As the smoke began to clear into the open air, bits of twisted metal became visible through the grey mist. The machine that Joaquin had terrorized them with was half melted and twisted with the violence of the final attack. The blackened steel plowed up from the ground like a monument to some ancient, forgotten evil.

A sharp hiss caught their attention as gout of stream rose from the top of the shattered hulk. Bits and pieces of metal ran down the sides of the destroyed machine in rivulets as something smaller seemed to claw its way out from inside. A stiff pop, and some pieces of the blackened cockpit fell away, revealing mostly intact box that extended two long wings from either side, its rear whirling as it slowly rose off the ground.

"He's trying to escape!" Koenma snapped, confidently looking over his shoulder, "Ama!"

"I'm on it!" The former spirit detective said confidently, though his body did not reflect his confident tone. Without request or speech, both Zandock and Caspar extended their hands, throwing all the energy that could spare into their brother, "No one gets away after all that."

The blonde youth's feet came off the ground, and he threw himself after the plane while it slowly increased in speed as the engine warmed up. Amakaze's bother shuddered in the air as his hands rose over his head, but he pressed on heedlessly, the wind gathering obediently to his touch. The wind swirled around him, gathering up the smoke in a miniature tornado around himself. His fingers pointed desperately, and the tornado charged off after the plane. Spent, the spirit detective dropped roughly to asphalt.

Buffeted by winds, the plane almost smashed into the ground, listed to the right, and nearly flipped before regaining control. The howling fury of the youth's last attack tore at the edges of the plane, the wing deforming slightly under the onslaught, but held together. Caught in the attack, the plane rocked and followed the swirl around, breaking away from it unsteadily as the spirit energy dissipated in the wind. Relieved, the plane leveled off again…

And found itself heading straight back toward Koenma and the others.

Desperately, it tilted; trying to bank away from the danger, but it was too late. Blue energy gathered around Yusuke's fingertip, and the spirit gun followed the path of the plane as it moved.

"For my friend…" Yusuke murmured softly, and let loose with his attack. Unable to escape it completely, the plane swerved desperately and the Spirit Gun slammed into the wing, snapping it off cleanly. Smoke trailed from the plane as it flipped helplessly end over end into the distance, where it disappeared from sight on the horizon, followed quickly by a flash of bright light and a slightly slower muffled sound of impact.

Yusuke watched the orange glow from flame in the distance savagely for a moment, and then turned back to Koenma, who was checking on Amakaze, "He alright?"

"He's been through worse, detective." Koenma smiled faintly, "Not much worse, I'll admit, but he'll live. As will you. Good work, Yusuke."

"Where's the last Suzaku, anyway?" Kuwabara asked curiously, seeming a little subdued in the wake of the final fight.

"He said he had something to take care of." Yusuke said quietly, extending his senses and located the familiar presence back inside the base, "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

---

Once his stomach stopped threatening to empty itself, Suzaku pushed himself back onto feet. Feeling pieces of himself die was bad enough, but using their life energy was far worse. He knew that those copies were permanently gone now, he had broken the rules of the Black Secret Techniques and they would not respond to him any longer, but he no longer cared.

At long last, he could finally truly begin a new life. He wasn't sure if a chance to start over is what he had wanted all along, or just since coming back to the human world, but it was finally within his grasp. He touched the metal walls with one hand to steady them as he moved, still sick to his stomach with the natural results of death. He kept his head straight though, watching the path in front him as he continued, step by step, to cross it. He relished the last few steps of his old life, and smiled at all the prospects that could await him.

So intent on his dream was he that he did not hear the quiet noise of footsteps, nor the gentle mechanical sound of a pistol being prepped, or the breathing of the person behind him cease in anticipation of the moment. He knew of his presence only when the gunshots echoed through the hallway and his body jerked forward against his will, dropping him across the cold flooring. Gasping in pain, he spent a moment clutching at his wounds, half articulated screeches of pain escaping his lips between breaths. Slowly, his will reasserted itself, and he looked up at his attacker.

"Didn't work out so well for you, did it?" Matthews tone was civil, but his lips were white with fury as he looked at the Saint Beast, "You need to pay more attention to your surroundings, shouldn't you." He watched the dying human for a moment, his face bordering on the edge of contempt, "But that's always been your problem. You, heroes, are reactive by nature. With a little planning, you can always be beaten. Always."

Suzaku tried to form words, but his lips were slowly to respond to his commands, and his breath hissed out only reluctantly, "W-why..?"

"Because I want your friends to suffer, of course." Matthews snapped tightly, smiling a smile devoid of warmth. The demon took a set of small vials from his briefcase, waving them down at Suzaku, "You didn't think I would have backups? How stupid would I be? In a few days, I'll be just as strong as before, and I won't need the Machine anymore. I'll kill Yusuke, that wretch Koenma, and everyone else, just as slowly as I possibly can."

"T-This…T-This is…" Suzaku strained, his hand moving convulsively with the pain, "This is…"

"This is what?" Matthews mocked, smirking deliberately, "This is…true? This is…inevitable? Come now, don't leave me in suspense, you don't have long to get it out now."

"This is…is…for…my friends…" Suzaku forced himself, reaching across the grip something at his hip, concealing under the folds of his clothing, "Is..for my…fri..ends.." The Saint Beasts eyes widened for a moment, and then went blank, his breath easing out of him at least as the lines in his face faded.

Matthews sighed, annoyed at the trite, predictable message. Curiously, he reached out with his foot and nudged at the corpses elbow, moving the arm to the side. The hand came up, a thin metal pin held tightly between its fingers. A confused look spread across Matthews features as he bent to peel the clothing back and look for something more.

At that moment, the timer ran down on the now pinless grenade. As its type had when Vincent had used it first again Amakaze, and when Amakaze had in turn tried to use it again Matthews, the grenade exploded with a faintly visible shimmer, washing over Suzaku and Matthews and pushing spirit energy away.

A harsh beeping pulled Matthews attention to his chest as he clawed open his shirt. Nestled in his chest, the transmitter he had installed lost the signal of his spirit energy and began transmitting as it was programmed to. Matthews stared at the peaceful body lying in repose at his feet, and his mind from frozen.

"Shit…"

---

"Are you sure?" Yusuke demanded, his surprise evident on his face.

"Positive." Koenma smiled with delight, examining the frozen form of Touya closely, "He managed to freeze himself in stasis…The sly devil, none of them are dead, they're just frozen. Demons can last a little longer then humans, if we can get them to a healer-."

The self destruct system on the military research facility was substantial even before Matthews started working there. In research, many things could go wrong at once, and might need to be liquidated before affection the civilians living nearby. Matthews, for reasons of his own, had increased the system, and Amakaze himself had written the program the sequence would follow during his brief tenure as a federal employee and the code was exceedingly efficient.

The first explosion lit up the sky like the sun, and knocked everyone nearby onto their backs with the force of the shockwave. The initial blasts were shaped charged, designed to bring down the thick walls that surrounded the facility. The air rang out with the string of continual explosions as the program went through the preprogrammed sequence, efficiently reducing the lab to a pile of cinders and melted metal. Nothing with legs could have stood in the fury of that explosion, and the soldiers nearby scrambled behind all available cover, those too far away pummeled with tiny bits of debris. The sequence went on for perhaps a full minute, with a staccato of ringing explosions counting off each second, and the dull roar of collapsing ceilings and crunching equipment. All at once, the air was silent again, save for the last ringing echo as it faded into the night.

"Suzaku!" Yusuke sprang to his feet, making as if to rush forward, but he halted. There was nothing left of the base Matthews had used to formulate his terror, and there was nowhere for him to go to try and save the Saint Beast, no sense of his spirit to home in on.

"Yusuke!" Koenma reached out and grabbed the spirit detectives shoulder, perhaps to prevent him from running into the flame anyway, "Yusuke, it's not safe…"

"But we have to find Suzaku." Yusuke breathed, shaking his head as if to wake up from a dream, "We can't just leave him in-."

"He's gone, Yusuke…"

"He could still be, I mean, He can still be.."

"Yusuke, there's no feeling of him in there. He was in the base when it went up, without his powers. I'm sorry.." The Spirit Ruler's tone was gentle, and tightly controlled. He looked around at the devastated landscape, and the only slightly less devastated faces of his companions, each soberly reflecting on what victory had cost them.

"Come on…let's get out of here.."


	38. Chapter 31: Victory's Aftermath

Chapter 31: Victory's Aftermath 

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the special investigative committee…" The soldier began formally, standing ramrod straight in the center of the room. The heavy mahogany desk formed a semi-circle before him, and conservatively dressed men and women watched him, pens and paper in hand, "I have come before you to protest a grave injustice. Though the perpetrator has already stood before the bar of highest judgment, the story of his infraction must not be forgotten, or those who served with us and perished would be forgotten."

"Yes, Lieutenant, that is very true." The chairman stated carefully, her carefully painted fingernails tapping lightly on the desktop, "We're very interested in having a straight report about such events that have cost the JSDF the lives of at least two dozen soldiers, several vehicles, and the entirety of our main research center. Now, Lieutenant…" She flipped through her papers, and found the desired page, "Lieutenant Blaze, are you prepared to tell us what you know of this incident?"

Vincent Blaze seemed to consider that, his eyes running back over everything that they had seen in the past months, the good and the bad. Slowly, still maintaining parade ground stiffness, he nodded, "I am, Chairman."

"Proceed then."

"As you wish. It all started when Gui Matthews was transferred in as XO…"

---

Conner Boone awakened sluggishly, which was quite unusual. He required very little sleep, and was legendary for his ability to go from complete unconsciousness to active duty in very short periods of time. However, today's awakening was somewhat akin to climbing a very long staircase, and it was only after several minute that he actually managed to open his eyes.

"Oh good! You're awake, I was fairly worried!" Boone was rewarded by an extreme close up of a magnified eyeball, but that soon resolved itself as the head it was attached to leaned back a bit. Fat, temperamental, and absent-minded, Professor Lilintapolis was one of the top researchers for Boone Military Technologies, now a worldwide concern for anyone who wanted professional top-of-the-line weaponry. More then once, the fat doctor had attacked a recent staff addition for failure to correctly pronounce the huge man's last name. Boone smiled, memories rushing back to him about his head researchers peculiar personal habits.

That smile froze on the soldiers face as he continued to remember. He hadn't seen the Professor in some time, since he joined the JSDF to promote BMT personally, in fact. And that was, in turn, before Yusuke became a factor, and the final battle with Hiei…

Boone sat straight up, and was rewarded with a wave of dizziness and a splitting headache. His body felt heavy, and it didn't not respond as quickly as he would have preferred. The professor smiled, a bit sadly, and reached a hand out to steady the soldier,

"Careful now, you're still getting used to the prosthetics, Conner." The professor could rarely utter the word 'sir', but he was brilliant enough to get by without it. Boone, however, was more concerned with the subject of the sentence, rather then the use of his first name.

"What prosthetics?"

"Come on now, Conner…" The Professor lectured, a common pose for him, and squeezed lightly on the soldiers right arm. After a few seconds, the feeling traveled up and Boone felt it, which was slightly longer then it usually took, "You were clinically dead when we found you. We couldn't save everything, but you're lucky you have such a talented team of experts putting together something for you. Why, you can even do your little dueling tricks with these, albeit not as quickly as you had done before, and.."

"I get the picture." Boone said thoughtfully, experimentally moving his arm up and around. It was sleek, transmitting feeling and responding to mental commands after only a moment's hesitation. Frowning, he stood carefully, and walked to the window. After a second's consideration, he turned back to the Professor.

"Double the size of our personal weapon research department, and offer a ten thousand dollar bonus to anyone who can streamline these machines and bring me back to 100 fighting capacity."

"Understood." The Lilintapolis logged the order on a small personal assistant, "And what will we do with the expanded department after that is accomplished?" And it would be accomplished. With the level of talent represented by the BMT Corporation, and the amount of funds thrown their way, it was only a matter of time.

"You have to ask?" Boone smiled, turning back to the clouds, "I have a fight to win. Double that to anyone who can do 110."

---

Touya reached out gingerly and snagged a drink as it went by on a tray. He lifted the drink to his lips briefly, and made a face.

"Warm?" Jin smiled, tugging slightly on the bandage wrapped around his middle, "You should feel lucky…Koenma doesn't usually throw catered parties, no matter how important the victory may have been."

"Yeah, I know." Touya replied, touching his fingertip lightly to the surface of the liquid and tiny wisps of cold floated from the top, "Though we did nearly die out there, so I suppose it's a significant enough reason…particularly given that we don't work for him."

"You're right about that." Jin responded thoughtfully, watching the rest of the party. Chu and Rinku weren't able to make it yet, being farther from Touya when injured and thus less successfully frozen, which led to a longer recuperation time and Yukina wasn't really comfortable at parties so Kuwabara was probably still trying to convince her to join them. Shishi and Suzuka had settled at a table with the youthful members of Asterisk, while Kurama was trying unsuccessfully to get a dour looking Hiei to loosen up a bit. Genkai conversed quietly with Koenma about some matter or another, "Thanks for catching us with that ice thing of yours. Being frozen isn't my idea of a good time, but it worked."

"You're welcome." Touya smiled, leaned forward and whispered quietly into the other demons ear, "When we get back home, I'll see what I can do about warming you up some…"

Jin turned as red as his hair.

"Right, right? You with me?" Amakaze asked, his hands threading through the air in front of him, his voice lowering to conspiratorial whisper, "So Ootake figures that he's got this demon bug down flat and doesn't need our help anymore. Well, he completely forgets that its got this spirit rope around his waist, and he goes charging forward, and so, of COURSE, he-."

"That's not quite the way I remember it." Zandock pointed out with a smile, nodding sagely to himself, "The way I remember it, you slipped that rope on his waist as he started running."

"Well yeah-…"

"And wasn't that just after YOU had unleashed the demon in the first place?" Caspar added, his smile full of wicked glee, "Because the book of Ancient Evils said 'Open Me' on the cover?"

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that it was home to a-."

"Because Koenma had warned you before we left." Caspar and Zandock finished their sentence together, smiling smugly at their brother, who raised his hands in surrender.

"So I took a few creative licenses with the story, or at least I will.." He glared at his brothers, "If certain people would let me finish it…"

"Creative liberties?" Shishi Wakamaru put in quietly, his own mouth quirked into a subtle smirk of his own, "Something like the creative methods you employed to rearrange my chest a little two days ago?"

"Hey, I SAID I was sorry about that already!"

"Forgive me, Amakaze." Suzuka put in quietly, "But doesn't nearly killing someone in a demon energy induced rage require more then a simple 'I'm sorry'?"

"What do you want? Eternal servitude?"

"That would be nice." Shishi was the kind of demon who could say that with a perfectly straight face, "Can you start tomorrow?"

"Not quite." Koenma put in, surprising the table, "I've got an additional assignment for you three, and it's liable to take you some time to complete."

There was a stony silence from the three as their good cheer disappeared quickly. Ama sighed briefly to himself, and nodded,

"Guess that's to be expected…" He said softly, "What are we up to?"

"You three have been in violation of our policies." Koenma glared at them, "You've allowed years of vacation time to accumulate and it goes against company policy do that, so I am hereby ordering you to use your saved days immediately. Aside from emergencies, I expect you three to remove yourselves from the job for a while, understood?"

"Ah…" Amakaze stuttered intelligently.

"Is that understood, detectives?!"

"Yes, Koenma!!" The three barked instinctively, inclining their heads in an automatic sitting version of a bow. All three were smiling broadly when they lifted their heads, "And thank you…"

"Hmmph. You've earned it." Koenma snapped, but his eyes put lie to his harsh tone, "Just don't expect me to let it slide the next time you so flagrantly ignore procedure." Spinning on his heels, Koenma strode away from the table and into the second room.

---

Sometime later, Yusuke crept through the halls quietly, his sneakers squeaking only occasionally on the fancy linoleum floor. He could hear quiet music in the distance, and he slowly made for the sound. Cautiously, he put his back to the wall and peeked around the corner. The hall was empty, and he was just about to step forward when a quiet clap nearly made him jump out of his skin. Spinning with a muttered obscenity, he found himself confronted by two familiar shapes.

"Any reason you're sneaking around the place, detective?" Hiei asked pointedly, his arms folded in front of him as he leaned again the wall less the two feet from Yusuke, "I wouldn't have thought you the kind to miss your own party."

"I concur." Kurama somehow managed to look casual and natural even in formal clothes. He stood away from the wall, but angled toward it, so that his hand rested easily on Hiei's elbow, "Don't you know that the easiest way to get our attention is to try to sneak anywhere near us?"

"I'll add that to my lessons for the day." Yusuke muttered, trying to get his racing heart under control from the surprise, "And I didn't feel up for a party today, alright?"

Hiei and Kurama exchanged a momentary glance, "Oh?"

"Yeah." Yusuke said shortly, turning with the remainder of his pride and walking down the hall normally, "I'm just here to see Koenma about something real fast."

Hiei made as if to speak, no doubt pressing for information, but Kurama shook his head quietly. After a moment, the short Yokai shrugged his indifference, and both returned to the main party.

---

"Hey…Koenma, got a minute?" Yusuke rapped on the door once as he entered, and the conversation paused for a moment. Late in the party, most of the group were busily enjoying themselves in the other room, but Koenma and the three members of Asterisk still sat around the table. A figure cloaked in deep purple, the top half of his face masked by his hood, also sat with them.

"Certainly, Yusuke." Koenma said, after a moments hesitation, and kicked out a chair, "I didn't see you at the start earlier. Have something else to do?"

"Something like that." Yusuke muttered, dropping into the proferred chair and throwing a questioning glance at the robed figure.

"Oh! This is Murugu. He..ah..handles a lot of the paperwork for detective cases." Koenma introduced him, and Murugu inclined his head silently, "Anyway, you had something to ask me?"

"Yeah…I was curious…" Yusuke hesitated for a second, and then went on, "It's about Suzaku…I mean, I know we don't have the body, and he's not really human…but is there anyway you could..you know?"

"Bring him back? I'm sorry, Yusuke." Koenma cut in gently, glancing at Murugu and shaking his head slowly, "We keep careful records of those humans who are about to die, and can help facilitate their travel if they get lost on the way to the Spirit World. But Suzaku was another case entirely…his soul has no shown up in Spirit World yet…At least, not anywhere we know of."

"Oh…" Yusuke sat back a moment, pondering this, and then sighed, "Yeah..it just seems…I dunno…wrong to be celebrating when it cost us so much…"

"You have to remember, Yusuke, that Suzaku switched sides to fight for you…" Caspar said thoughtfully, "I'm sure that he would be glad to know that you considered him a friend, in the end.."

"Yeah…well…I guess you can't change what is.." Yusuke muttered, and stood abruptly, sliding the chair back under the table.

"Try to enjoy yourself, Yusuke. It may help to have friends around.." Koenma called after him softly. Yusuke grunted in response, and slipped out the door. As it closed, Amakaze leaned back, stretching out his senses.

"Alright, he's gone." The youth said finally, "That was close."

"Yes." 'Murugu' pushed back his hood, revealing orange hair and piercing eyes, "What was with the name, Spirit Ruler?"

"Hey, I had to think on short notice." Koenma confessed, peering at the other, "Won't you reconsider now, Suzaku? I don't think Yusuke's ever really lost someone he allowed himself to like."

"No..I can't." Suzaku said regretfully, "It's tempting to stay here in Japan, but that doesn't make it right…If I stay, I'm destined to remain a leech on someone else's life…I need to make my own way, or I'll never truly know humanity. I need to live, to dream, and to fail…my own way."

"I suppose you're right." Koenma sighed, sliding an envelope across the table, "These three wanted you to have this.." Suzaku glanced at Zandock, Amakaze, and Caspar in turn, but their expressions gave away nothing. Slowly, he opened the thick envelope. Stacks of green paper and a plane ticket nearly burst out of the stuffed container.

"Just some money to get you started." Caspar explained.

"And a ticket to California…" Zandock added.

"…So you can get away from Japan and still be able to touch Spirit Energy." Amakaze finished, smiling, "It's the only state in the USA that you can find it, for whatever reason. Our mother lived out there, you know."

"Thank you.."

"Thank YOU. We'd all be dead without you." Amakaze's smile faltered for a second as Suzaku flipped up his hood and prepared to leave, "Sorry…but I'm curious..exactly how did you survive the explosion?"

"Oh, that." Suzaku smiled offhandedly, "Seven copies isn't really a rule…it's more of a guideline."

---

"And this hallucinogen…It was powerful enough to grip the entire base?" The chairmen pressed thoughtfully, "Wouldn't someone notice what was going on?"

"Not as quickly as you might think." Blaze confessed, a little bit of embarrassment seeping into his voice, "The effects were subtle, at first, and the one ordering the injections was directly in the chain of command. Also, the symptom of paranoia is often hard to diagnose, because those with it often avoided their squad mates. By the time anyone realized what we going on, the base had already turned on itself. Some were deluded by the injections, and some were just caught up with the confusion. Even looking back, I can't entirely work out what went on, and I was there."

"I see." The chairmen sighed thoughtfully. The interview had been long, and most of here questions have been answered, "Gui Matthews has much to answer for. Are you absolutely sure that he is already dead?"

"Almost positive." Blaze answered, with a surprising amount of vehemence, "Which is a shame. After what he did, I'd like to-."

"Lieutenant…"

"Sorry. Several soldiers saw Matthews enter the building, and no one saw him come out again. He would have been the only one in the base with the proper codes to initiate a self destruct, certainly, and it seems likely that he brought the base down on top of himself in an attempt to get the 'spirit cops'…deranged figments of his imagination, and it cost us a lot of good men."

"It did indeed." The chairmen glanced at her slender watch, and closed her folder in front of her, "That concludes today's debriefing, I believe, though we retain the right to call you again, if any more information becomes available. You're dismissed Lieutenant. Please remain at your residence until you resume active duty."

"Yes, Major Ibuki." Vincent Blaze saluted, and strode crisply out of the room. The halls were deserted this late, the debriefing had gone on longer then anyone had intended. He passed the set of double doors, and waited at the curb as a black sedan pulled easily to a halt in front of him. Gingerly, he opened the door and climbed in, releasing his mental grip as he did so. Blaze's features dissolved into a mishmash of colors and faded, revealing middle-eastern features and a mess of brown hair.

"That seemed to go well, si?" His driver asked, one hand absently rubbing the burn scar that ran across his cheek.

"Well Did it go well?" Fortune laughed as the car pulled smoothly out away from the base, "Joaquin, my friend, you have absolutely no career in acting. That was a masterpiece."

"If you say so, senor." Joaquin shrugged briefly, keeping his good eye on the road, "So, what do we do now?"

"My dear dear friend." Fortune smiled wickedly, "Revenge is a dish best served cold…and we'll have our fill of it, when the time is right…"

To Be Concluded…


	39. Chapter 32: Epilogue

Chapter 32: Epilogue 

"Still tired, Yusuke?"

Yusuke snapped out of the half doze he was in, and turned toward the sound of the voice. Keiko flashed him a smile, and slipped into the chair next to him and took his hand. Yusuke responded with his best roughish grin and shrugged briefly,

"A bit, I suppose." He admitted, brushing his hands back through his hair, "Fighting Toguro, then dealing with Matthews, and heading directly into Sensui was a little too much over such a short time…It still feels weird to just sit around as if everything was normal."

"Well, things ARE normal." Keiko reminded him, squeezing his hand gently, "I'm still sorry I was on a school trip when you fought Matthews, but you did beat him, and Toguro, and Sensui. We can hope there aren't any more adventures for you."

"Maybe." Yusuke's eyes went to the sunset, contemplating uncharacteristically, "But I doubt it. Koenma really made his dad angry with that stunt, and we'll probably have to bail him out…even if he IS an annoying brat."

"Why, thank you, Yusuke."

Yusuke jumped automatically from the voice, circling around and glaring at the Koenma, "What is this? Sneak-Up-On-Yusuke Day?"

"Something like that." Kurama's voice was about a foot behind Yusuke, and the spirit detective jerked in surprise even as he tried to suppress the reaction. His glare swept over Kurama without noticeable effect, but Hiei offered him a faint smirk.

"Well, if you've all had your fun.." Yusuke started, trying to keep a reign on his annoyance, "You won't mind if I run to catch a bite to eat."

"Actually, we would." Koenma sighed, picking absently at his new outfit, designed to blend in with the human world, "Yusuke, you've been sitting and staring off into space ever since-….What is that?"

'That' was wandering down the road, wailing incoherently and refusing to be consoled by the three uniformed students that walked with him.

"Kuwabara?" Yusuke blinked, turning to one of the students, "Hey, Okubo! What's wrong with him?"

" 'Wavelength' is coming to town…But we couldn't get tickets…" The heavy-set kid replied, "We waited for a week, but there were just too many people…"

" 'Wavelength'?"

"C'mon Yusuke, you haven't been in your shell for that long, have you?" Keiko chided, "They're a new band that just recently exploded onto the scene. They're really something, and they're starting their unveiling tour here before moving on to Tokyo."

"Unveiling Tour?"

"They wear hoods during their public appearances, and they don't have any pictures on their CDs. So no one knows what they look like. But, apparently, they're supposed to throw off their hoods during the first song on this tour."

They all stared. It had been Hiei that had absently stepped into the conversation to supply the specifics of the band. After a moment, he realized the scrutiny he was under and scowled reflexively, "I can't hardly live in the city without you humans clamoring over every new musical sensation…hnh."

"Yes, well, how wonderful for them. A shame you couldn't get any tickets or anything." Yusuke rolled his eyes disinterestedly, "What a world, huh?"

"It doesn't surprise me." Kurama said softly, "They're supposed to be completely impossible to get, unless you have some contacts with someone important."

"Oh, I don't know. I just had to ask." Koenma pulled a thick envelope out of his side coat pocket. The edges of paper tickets emerged out of the top of the white envelope, "After that, ten tickets arrived on my doorstep the next morning."

"You have tickets?" Kuwabara demanded, taking note of the conversation at last and snatching at the envelope, "Front Row, backstage passes!…But…how?"

"You have to have contacts with someone important…I run the Spirit World, or at least, I do until my father has something to say about it." The disguised teenagers grinned, "But I thought we could all go along with Yusuke, as sort of a cheer-up gift…"

"What do you say?"

-

"I don't see what I'm doing here?" Hiei complained as the stepped through the crowds, helped along by Security and moving easier as they neared the front, "I don't do this sort of thing."

"It's a good chance for you to learn a little more about humans." Kurama told him, glancing at the ticket before sliding into the correct seat, "Just try and enjoy it."

"I don't WANT to learn more about humans." Hiei growled, but he also sat down, "I'm just humoring you."

"Of course."

"I may sneak out early."

"Of course."

"I don't know anything about this band anyway, and I don't care who they really are."

"Of course."

Hiei fell silently reluctantly, crossing his arms and leaning back in the cushy seat. The rest of them settled down in their seats with sodas and other snacks. Kuwabara had somehow managed to carry two jumbo popcorns and a mega sized candy bag through the crowd.

"So, when do these guys play, anyway?" Yusuke prodded Keiko briefly.

"Once the opening act finishes their set, the main band sets up." Keiko nodded to the red-haired singer on stage. Judging by what they heard, it looked like the opening act had a future in the business as well, though they would have sounded better with a keyboardist, "Shouldn't be long now-ah! There we are!"

The last of the opening acts song echoed briefly around the auditorium and then faded. Techs instantly leapt forward to set up the instruments for the final act. A figure emerged from the left side of the stage, and Yusuke cocked his head sideways. Though the figure was cloaked in an overlong set of robes, with his face covered with a hood, there was something about his gait that sent a faint warning bell through Yusuke. He focused, trying to track down the thought as the figure reached the microphone.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Let's hear it for our great friends- Bad Luck!" The crowd roared its approval, but Yusuke was busy frowning. Something in his voice was…

"Are you ready to rock?" The cloaked person demanded, and the crowds noise increased. The hood shifted slightly, as if someone was straining to hear,

"What? I SAID…are you ready to ROCK?"

Again, the crowd grew louder and again the figure made some show of being unable to believe the noise level. He turned as three more identically covered figures made their way on stage, "Hey, you think we're in the right town?"

The tallest of them shrugged as he reclined in his drum seat, and the one at the microphone faced the crowd once more, holding his hands up for quiet. Bit by bit, the audience grew muted, until you could practically hear someone cough in the very rear seats. After holding the pose a moment, he said again,

"Are! You! Ready! To! Rock!"

This time, the noise from the crowd was deafening, nearly a tangible thing that left a ringing in the ears.

"Well All RIGHT!" All four figures grasped at the front of their robes, pulling it up with a practiced motion and an unnatural silence fell over the crowd, breathlessly awaiting the revelation of the mystery that had made the band great. But, a second before the robed cleared their faces, every light in the auditorium went out, plunging the room into total blackness. Cries of chagrin sounded distinctly feminine, but that was not the only exclamation.

"Them!" Hiei blinked, slack jawed with amazement.

"You can see in this?" Yusuke turned to look at Hiei, or, he HOPED he looking toward Hiei, "I can't see a thing."

"Sshhh…Wait for it." Koenma chided, clearly keeping himself from laughing, "They certainly know how to make an impression." Slowly, the lights flickered on, far too dim to illuminate much but the general shapes of those around. Bit by bit the power increased, shining brighter and brighter down on the stage. It illuminated four figures, each dressed in a tight semi-uniform that was different only in its color. One was purple; the others were white, brown, and blue. Even their hair seemed to nearly match their outfits. As the lights came on, Yusuke squinted at the one standing next to the microphone, as the crowd began to talk again.

"Oh, He's Hot!"

"Is that _him_? I thought he was taller!"

"I can't see! Who is He!"

"Ama!"

Yusuke's exclamation caught the former spirit detectives attention as he smilingly swept the front of the audience with his gaze. Abruptly, his face froze momentarily with surprise as he saw who had said his name. Koenma was laughing uproariously, but everyone else was busy being startled. Professionally, the youth inclined his head toward the group, and grinned to the rest of the crowd as the lights came up.

"Look, It's Zandock and Caspar too! Drums and Keyboard!" Kuwabara's voice snapped Yusuke out of it, and he saw that it was true. Studiously ignoring his presence, save for a surreptitious wink, the two brothers were waving to the crowd and apparently enjoying the noise. Amakaze leaned a bit, grabbing a white guitar off the stand, and clearing the way for the last of the band members.

"Shishi?" This time no one heard him, or gave any sign of it, but Yusuke chuckled where he sat. It didn't matter what they played, or how well they did, or even how successful they were. What mattered, is that they were warriors who could do more then just fight.

And so could He.

The End

-For All those who believed


End file.
